The Christmas Letter
by FriendsWithTheMonster
Summary: Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking him for just one important thing: to take the pain away. After being away from Beacon Hills she was looking forward to spending Christmas with Derek and his family, she should've known it never would've been that easy...
1. Chapter 1

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 1** **:**_

Christmas was all about family.

Okay well that's what Peter was always told and up until he was old enough to realize that Santa wasn't actually real, and that the presents he got from the man occupying the north pole were really from his very own parents, he had been a firm believer in the fact that Christmas was about getting exactly what he asked for. There was no spirit of Christmas within him, it was just a holiday in which he was forced to spend with his family, none of whom truly understood him, so when Derek had announced that his friend was coming to spend the festive holiday with their family, and he hadn't been too pleased.

Sydney Vance had always been more of a nuisance to Peter than anything and in his head; she was definitely Derek's little tag along friend more than someone that he could respect but when he had complained to Talia about an outsider being in their home for Christmas, she had blatantly ignored his protests: apparently Sydney didn't have anywhere else to go. Well that wasn't exactly Peter's problem and it didn't make him feel any less annoyed with having to share his home with her over the winter holiday break.

While it had been quite a few years since he had seen the irritating little girl that Derek had befriended as a toddler, Peter didn't feel the need to wait around for her arrival. There were still a few days before Christmas, a few days to hit the stores and maybe find some more gifts, mostly for him.

But before he had a chance to head out of the house, he wandered through the upstairs hallway, moving swiftly and quietly so as not to disturb the conversation happening in Derek's room between him and Talia. It was interesting to say the least and as Peter stood outside the young man's room with his back pressed against the wall, he was reminded of the dangers that constantly lingered around the town of Beacon Hills.

It had been six years since Sydney had lived in the same town as Derek, six years since her parents had been killed in their own home but that wasn't the interesting part to Peter, no, he was more curious to find out why her grandparents, who had taken her in when she had no one else left, had shipped her off to California to spend the Christmas holidays with them.

He wasn't disappointed either, Derek had spoken openly and freely about how her grandparents were taking off for a friend of a friend's place, wanting to spend one last Christmas with someone named Maude before she succumbed to the cancer that she was apparently suffering from. Okay, okay that was a fair point in Sydney's favour, Peter couldn't have imagined how utterly depressing that sort of Christmas would be and maybe having her here wouldn't be so bad.

Except she was Derek's little friend, an irritating sixteen-year-old who would bring whatever high school drama she had with her. That wasn't something Peter was looking forward to and he certainly didn't want to spend the days leading up to Christmas, and then Christmas itself, in the same house as two moody, brooding teenagers; Derek was quite enough to deal with on his own.

Heading back down the stairs, Peter held on to the bannister tight and considered the possibilities that would make the holidays interesting for them all. He could be a real Grinch if he wanted to and with Sydney Vance, the random girl he didn't much care for, joining the Hales in their very own home, well he could certainly have some fun with her, right?

"Peter?" Talia called out for him and he stopped halfway down the stairs, waiting for her to call out to him again, either that or lay her eyes on him. "Peter, can you do me a favour?"

"What?" He barked back and turned his head back over his shoulder to glance up the stairs. When Talia appeared in his line of vision, he widened his eyes as if to say 'let's get a move on' and she shook her head at him in response.

"Sydney's here, can you run outside and help Laura with her bags?" Talia questioned and Peter rolled his eyes.

Why couldn't Derek do it, why did he have to be the one to help Laura? Derek was her friend after all, wasn't this Derek's responsibility?

"What about Derek?"

"He's just in the middle of something right now." Talia countered and leveled him with a glare, which meant 'no more questions'. She was in charge here, she was the one who gave the orders and Peter knew that, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to put up a fight at all, no, this wasn't right. "Peter, can you please just go?"

"Seriously?" He shot back and considered his options. One he could do what had been asked of him, sure, but what was the fun in that, and plus, just because Talia was his sister, that didn't mean she had the power to just tell him what to do. Two, he could try to argue, try to get her to find someone else to help with their guest's bags, and to him, that sounded like a much better option.

"Peter, please? Derek's wrapping up _her_ Christmas present!" Talia called back out to him and Peter shook his head. So his nephew had gotten his little friend a gift after all, that didn't mean that Peter was going to change his mind.

"Fine." Peter huffed.

With a frustrated shake of his head, he loped down the remaining stairs and headed right for the front door, stopping only to slip his feet into a pair of well-worn shoes. Since it was California, and it didn't get super cold, he walked out of the house wearing nothing more than the long sleeved shirt and jeans that he had been wearing inside. When he stepped off the porch though, he fought off the urge to laugh at their Christmas visitor.

Sydney Vance was decked out in a chestnut coloured suede bomber jacket, complete with shearling lining. On her hands she wore a pair of matching gloves with fur trim around the wrists and on her ears she adorned a pair of light brown faux fur ear muffs. Apparently she hadn't gotten the memo about Christmas in California being nearly snow free, but that wasn't going to stop him, no, she was the perfect target, it was almost too easy.

"Peter, hi!" Laura shouted from the back of her car, the trunk was popped and she was trying to free Sydney's suitcase from it. She handed Sydney a smaller bag once her suitcase was on the ground and Sydney quickly lifted it up onto her shoulder, wrapping her glove covered hand around the strap. "Did mom send you out to help?"

"I still don't know why Derek couldn't do it." Peter grumbled in reply and closed in on the two females, bending down to grab the handles of her suitcase before hauling it up and holding on to it. He set his sights on Sydney and looked her up and down, still amused by her winter weather get-up, which was almost completely unnecessary here in California. "You know, it's not _that_ cold here, right?"

"I left from Colorado, they have _snow_ there." Sydney snarked back at him and shook her head in disbelief. "If it makes you feel better, I packed my shorts and bikini top in my suitcase."

"What?" Laura piped up and looked between Sydney and her uncle.

"It was a joke." Sydney sighed in frustration and rolled her eyes. It wasn't a secret that she and Peter had never really gotten along, hell, there was far too much of an age difference between them for them to have spent any real time together. Peter would forever look at her as the little nuisance that Derek liked to call a best friend and she would always look at him as the cruel uncle of her closest comrade. "Laura, can you grab the last bag, I put it in the back seat."

"You have _another_ bag?" Peter widened his eyes at her and she forced a sarcastic smile in his direction.

"I do, it's full of Christmas treats, I thought you and your family would appreciate some homemade cookies and chocolates but I mean, if that's not the case-"

"Cookies?" Peter cut her off and looked past her to the car, where Laura was finagling a third, and final, bag out of the back of the car. "Gingerbread?"

"And shortbread, triple chocolate chip…I wanted to make a pie but my grandma pointed out that it might not travel as well, so I didn't." She answered and let out an amused snort at the way that Peter's eyes seemed to light up at the mentioning of cookies. Okay, so maybe Christmas with little Sydney Vance wouldn't be so bad after all, at the very least, he'd have some decent treats to munch on.

"Peter, can you take that upstairs to the guestroom?" Laura commanded politely, pulling him out of his cookie induced trance. She took a step towards them and Peter gave her a slight nod, not even bothering to argue. Without hesitating, he led the way to the house where they paused only to peel off their shoes and for Sydney to strip herself of her winter clothing, then he headed up the stairs with her suitcase while Sydney trailed along behind him.

Laura had veered off and went into the kitchen with the cookies, the cookies that Peter was desperate to get his hands on. Instead of following Laura though, he continued to lead Sydney up the stairs, then down the hall to the last room on the right. When he was inside the guest room, he dropped her suitcase to the floor at the end of the bed and waved around the room.

"Welcome to your room." He remarked flatly and she nodded her understanding.

"Home sweet home for the holidays." She muttered and set the smaller bag she was carrying down on the end of the bed. "Thanks for bringing my bag up."

"Sure."

"Anyways, if you'll excuse me, I have to…I haven't seen a bathroom in hours."

She crossed her arms over her chest, sucked in a breath and brushed past him as she headed for the bathroom. Peter hesitated in the room and looked around at the guest room that Talia had tried to make look a little more Christmas-y than it had ever looked before. There were translucent plastic snowflakes tacked to the window and a bright red garland strung up around the window frame. It wasn't much but it was a lot more than he had allowed Talia to put up in his own room.

Peter's eyes fell on the bed and ultimately the bag that now resided there. It was half unzipped and a bright white envelope with a small red poinsettia sticker on the corner of it was poking out of the opening. Without thinking of what he was doing, he reached into her bag, grabbed the envelope and freed it, noticing that the envelope wasn't sealed.

With a wicked smile on his face, he lifted the flap up and caught the first few words of the letter:

 _Dear Santa,_

He hadn't made it any further than that, he didn't need to, this was golden, this was the ticket to making _his_ Christmas more bearable than ever. He'd use this against her, he'd force her to do his bidding because after all, what sixteen-year-old still believed in Santa, and if they did, they wouldn't want anyone else to know that they did.

Peter tucked the enveloped into his back pocket and made sure that his shirt was covering it, at least until he could hide it away from anyone. When he had the chance, he'd let her know that he had her precious letter with the hopes that she'd be too embarrassed about it to do anything other than what he wanted her to do.

Well, hadn't Christmas just gotten a little more interesting.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney had returned from the bathroom to an empty room, which was just fine with her. She hadn't been expecting Peter to have waited around for her and she knew that Derek was currently in the middle of something because she had passed by his room and tried to sneak a peek inside but Talia had put an end to her looking and instead, guided her towards the bathroom, kindly reminding her how bad she had to use the facilities after such a long journey on her own.

It _had_ been a long journey, first by train, then by bus, but Sydney was fine crossing the state borders to get to California. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of spending Christmas away from her grandparents but the other option was to go with them and visit Maude, the old fogey who had never been much of a fan of Sydney. Plus at least if she was staying with Derek and his family, then she'd maybe _feel_ like celebrating instead of moping around wishing the days would pass sooner.

It had been hard, for the last few years since her parents had died, Christmas hadn't felt right since they had been torn from her life, but she had tried to at least pretend to be happy during the holidays. It had never worked out that well though, and without anyone to really talk to about how truly upsetting she found Christmas to be she merely drove her feelings down deeper, hoping that one day she could fake it enough that maybe she'd start to believe in the Christmas spirit again.

Every year since her parents had passed though she had written out a letter to the one and only Santa Claus. She was sixteen, she wasn't stupid, she knew that he wasn't real and that her mailed letters would just be read by some random person who would write her up a generic response, but this year was different, this year, she hadn't been able to mail her letter. Instead, she had tucked it into her bag and was still debating what she wanted to do with it.

She could burn it, the Hales had a fire place in their home and she figured that it would be roaring with a warm fire at some point during her stay, but if she burned it in front of them, then she'd have to explain what it was and maybe that wouldn't be so bad, but she also didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her. She wanted to be treated like a normal teenage girl, not the charity case who had lost her parents at the age of ten.

She could still mail it, although she wasn't figuring she'd get a reply until Christmas was over, _if_ she even got one at all. But did that mean she'd just leave it in her bag while she debated what she wanted to do, of course not. Until she figured it out, the idea of having a letter to Santa with her, in her possession, would continue to linger in her head.

Derek could never see it, in fact no one could. For one thing, she was sixteen and sixteen-year-olds shouldn't still believe in Santa Claus. For another thing, she was too proud to admit that she wanted to believe in Christmas magic again like she had all those years ago. If any time of year seemed like the right time for something good to happen to her, wasn't Christmas as good a time as any?

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, well her bed for the duration of her stay with the Hales, she reached over and nabbed the top of her bag before lifting it up and setting it across her lap. She unzipped the main part of it and looked inside, hoping to find her letter safely tucked away where she had put it when she had still been on the train working away at the finishing touches. It had to be perfect, the words had to make sense and the first draft that she had written had been ruined from the tear stains that had wrinkled the paper.

She had managed to find a Christmas envelope too, a white one with a poinsettia sticker on the corner and without hesitating for a second, she had brought it along with her but she hadn't sealed it, not yet, she wasn't entirely sure she was done with it.

Looking into the bag though, she furrowed her eyebrows together at the sight inside. There were her typical travel necessities, a wallet with money and identification, a brush, a tube of Chap Stick and a few other miscellaneous items that she might've needed on her journey, but there was certainly no letter. Sydney drove her hand inside the zippered part and pushed everything to the side, praying that the letter had gotten lost within the rest of the contents, but as she dug further and further into the bag, she felt her heart picking up in pace.

"No, no, no, where is it?" She pleaded with the bag and felt her frantic heartbeat, but still, the more she looked inside the bag, there was still no evidence of the letter. "Come on, this isn't happening."

"What's the matter?" A voice taunted her from the hallway and when Sydney peeled her eyes off the inside of the bag, she looked up to the doorway and spotted Peter Hale standing there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "Something wrong?"

"No." She shook her head and moved the bag back to the bed, standing up shortly after. She looked around the room and when she heard his footsteps moving into the room with her, she turned back to glance at him, noticing the mischievous smirk toying on his lips. "Why would you think anything's wrong?"

"You seem a little on edge, weren't you just looking for something in your bag?" Peter asked and he moved to stand next to her, glancing around the room with her, his eyes landing on her bag, the same bag that he had swiped the letter from minutes earlier.

"Uh, no." She groaned and turned her back to the bed, flopping down onto the edge of it with a huff.

"Maybe you were looking for an important item?"

"That's none of your business." She fired back at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "What do you want anyways?"

"I just want to help you find what you were looking for." Peter answered nonchalantly and watched as Sydney leveled her gaze on him. Good, so she was picking up what he was laying down, that was definitely good. She certainly wasn't stupid, nor was she as naïve as he figured, not like Derek anyways.

"I'm not looking for anything." Sydney let out a frustrated sigh. "But even if I was, that's none of your _business_."

"Well I just want to make sure whatever you lost didn't get into the wrong hands." Peter jeered and turned his back to her. He took a step towards the bedroom doorway but Sydney let out a soft whimper, drawing his attention right back to her.

"Did you take it?" She asked in a soft, fearful tone. "Did you take my letter?"

"Santa will be disappointed not to have heard from you, don't you think?" He taunted and she sucked in a nervous breath.

He had it! He had stolen it from her bag and now she was at his mercy. She didn't want him to tell anyone, she didn't want him to say a word about it to Derek, or Laura, or Talia and if he was a ruthless as she had once known him to be, then this wasn't going to be easy for her either.

"What do you want from me?" She growled. When he backtracked and took up a stance in front of her, she shied away from his gaze and looked down at her feet instead. "Can I please just have it back?"

"I'm not just going to _give_ it back." He shook his head sadistically. "That would be way too easy, don't you think? Plus it's not like you'll go crying to Derek, or Talia for that matter, I'm guessing that you probably don't want anyone under this roof to know about your childlike beliefs in Jolly Old Saint Nick. Am I right?"

"So what if you are?" She shot back but her eyes remained glued to her feet. "What do you want _from me_?"

"Nothing yet but it's always nice to have leverage. Wouldn't you agree?" Peter gently reached out and set his fingers under her chin, forcing her head up so that her eyes met his. "Maybe I'll make you bake me cookies, or give me your share of the Christmas pudding or something, I haven't decided yet."

"You can't show anyone that letter." She mumbled.

"I won't, so long as you don't give me any reason to."

"I swear, I'll do whatever you want." She was pleading now, what other choice did she have. He held her life in his hands and she wasn't going to chance it. "Just don't…don't say a word about it."

"I might even give it back when you leave." He offered with a sick smile. "It all depends on how well you behave over the holidays."

"I'll do anything!"

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page."

His hand drifted away from her chin and she narrowed her eyes in on him. Peter had bested her already and she had barely been in the house for fifteen minutes. She knew she should have put it somewhere safer, somewhere that no one would think to look for it. Even if Peter hadn't managed to get his conniving little paws on it, all it would've taken was for one of the Hales to wander into her room.

"Just don't do anything to that letter." Sydney breathed the words out, silently admitting defeat. She didn't know what he had done with it, she didn't know where he had put it and she wasn't going to chance looking for it. If she screwed this up then all it would take was a few seconds for Peter to confess to Derek's family that she was still writing letters to Santa and then what would they all think of her? Most likely that she was some juvenile little girl who hadn't grown up.

And she had, she had grown up so much since her parents had been taken from her, she had too. There was no way for her to be a kid when she no longer had real parents, there was no reason for her to ask for toys and games for Christmas when she had no desire to play with them. Christmas wasn't a happy fun time for her and now it was even worse.

"Don't worry my little Christmas elf," Peter teased and ran his hand over her head, petting her like some sort of dog, "your secret's safe with me, so long as you don't cross any lines and do whatever I say."

"I promise." She murmured, his eyes boring into hers.

"On a side note, I do hope that you'll find your room nice and cozy, after all, you're our guest and I'd hate for you to feel out of place. We'll just have to make sure that we leave extra cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, maybe even a note to let him know that you're here and not back in Colorado where you belong."

She didn't want to argue, she didn't have the desire to defend herself, nor was she going to give Peter any idea as to how truly heart wrenching it was to spend Christmas in Colorado year after year without her real family.

So instead of saying a word, she stayed silent and held her breath. With a nod of her head, she watched Peter as he marched out of her room with a new, confident, bounce in his step. Peter Hale had everything he needed to make her Christmas visit hell and she knew that if she messed it up, he'd have no problems doing just that.


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 2:**_

"Hey Syd?"

She had been standing at the foot of her bed, the same bed that she got to call hers for the few days that she was supposed to be staying with the Hales, digging out the small gifts that she had gotten for everyone. For the most part, they weren't wrapped because her grandma had pointed out that the chances of the wrapping making it all the way to California from Colorado unscathed were slim to none.

So when Derek had poked his head into her room, she had made a mad scramble to make sure that none of the presents currently residing on her bed were for him and after a quick look over, she let out a soft, relieved sigh. His was still buried somewhere in her bags, another gift waiting to be wrapped when the time came. When she had spoken to Talia last, she had even asked if it would be okay for her to do her wrapping there and Talia had promised to make sure that there were enough supplies for Sydney to do so.

"Yeah Derek?" Sydney paused in her search and glanced back at the doorway, her best friend stepping into her room and closing in on her. "What's up?"

"We were just getting ready to decorate the tree, did you want to join us?" Derek asked in a calm voice, something that she wasn't entirely used to from her friend. Derek was a bit on the cocky side, slightly arrogant and if something made him mad, boy did she never hear the end of it.

Since school was out for the Christmas holidays though, and there wasn't much trouble for Derek to get into, she figured that maybe the festive spirit had had a decent chance to insert itself into Derek's life for the time being. She could get rather used to this Derek, at least he wasn't always going around growling or snarling, a definite improvement from many of their times spent together before.

"Uh, yeah, that sounds nice. Give me like five minutes and I'll be down." Sydney gave him a nod of her head and she felt his palm gingerly pressing against the back of her shoulder. When she turned sideways to look at him, he furrowed his eyebrows together in a look of concern.

"I'm sorry that you have to spend your Christmas with us." He murmured and she tilted her head to the side. Before she had a chance to ask though, Derek was moving towards the door, disappearing into the hallway.

She shook her head at her friend and considered why he had said what he did. There was no reason to be sorry, spending Christmas with the Hales seemed like a much better option than spending them at home alone, or with her grandparents and Maude wherever that may be, in fact, if it weren't for Peter stealing her letter, then this would've been the best holiday for her since her parents had been around.

She could feel the love in the air, the sense of family, plus being back in California, a place that had once been so familiar to her, was almost comforting. Sure there wasn't any snow and she wasn't actually in her old house, or with her parents, but this was close enough. She had Derek, her best friend; Talia, one of the nicest women she had ever had the privilege of knowing; plus there was Laura and Cora, who had never been anything other than nice to her.

Spending Christmas with the Hales was something that she planned on enjoying, so why had Derek said he was sorry?

She considered it a few seconds longer and her mind drifted to her missing 'Dear Santa' letter, and suddenly it hit her. He wasn't sorry that she was spending Christmas with a family such as the Hales, he wasn't sorry that she was spending the holidays with people that cared about her, he was sorry that she had to spend Christmas without her parents, yet again.

Sydney shook her head and sucked in a breath, shoving her hand down into the bag in front of her and digging around for Derek's present. It wasn't much, none of the gifts she had picked out were anything major, but in her eyes, there was thought behind them and wasn't that what mattered?

When she freed the picture frame, a little tricycle adorning the bottom corner, she couldn't help but smile. Inside the frame resided a photo of her and Derek as little children, each one of them on a bicycle. Sydney's still had her training wheels on while Derek was riding without any support at all. The picture had been taken from behind by her mother, which meant that only their backs were visible, but to this day, it was still one of her most favourite photographs of the two of them. An exact match was tacked to her wall back in Colorado.

"What you got there?"

Sydney jumped at the sound of Peter's voice coming from behind her. Without thinking too much about it, she turned her head around and let out a low growl, showing him that she wasn't pleased with him.

"Nothing." She countered and quickly shoved the picture back into her bag. If he was going to waltz into her room and look over her shoulder at what she was doing, then at least she'd save face with Derek's present. She wanted him to be surprised when he opened it on Christmas morning and if Peter caught wind of what she had gotten for him, then she had no doubts that he'd ruin that too, just like he had ruined her day already by stealing her letter.

"That's not nothing." He purred and she winced at the sound of his footsteps marching into the room. When he came to a stance beside her, she glanced up at him but kept a confident expression on her face. He wasn't going to know how angry she was, he wasn't going to see her falter, she was going to pretend that she was fine being near him for as long as she possibly could. "Seems you've got gifts here, is there one on your bed for _me_?"

"Yup." She gave him one firm nod of her head.

"Are you going to tell me which one?"

"Wasn't planning on it." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well this is interesting." Peter's smirk grew on his face and while she was becoming a little anxious at what he was thinking, she tried to remain dignified. He wasn't going to get to her, not again. "Seems you've gotten everyone here something rather thoughtful, something they'd like dearly. Do you want to know what I got everyone?"

"I don't care." Sydney's voice came out firm, a sign of confidence, but she was feeling anything but.

"The answer, my Christmas elf, is nothing. I don't have time to waste looking for gifts for my family, and now it seems that I don't have to." He looked into her eyes, waiting for her to understand what he was saying. She tilted her head sideways in confusion but before she could open her mouth, he carried on. "Although, I might just want to keep these all for myself."

"What? No!" She protested and made a move to gather them all up, but Peter was much too quick for her, moving to stand in between her and the bed, effectively blocking her reach. "You can't do that!"

"I can, unless you want me to tell _everyone_ about your little letter to our dear Saint Nicholas." Peter taunted and watched as Sydney's shoulders slumped in defeat. Oh yes, this would be a much better Christmas now that he had someone to toy with, someone who was so easily broken by his demands. "That's what I thought, now, I overheard that you're going to be helping with the tree?"

"I am."

"See, there's been a bit of discussion about who gets to put the star on the top of the tree. Now, apparently my family has decided that since you're our guest of honour," Peter paused and rested his palms on her shoulders, holding her in front of him and drawing her eyes up to meet his, "you'd get the privilege. I don't like that idea, so I think it would be in your best interest if you pass the star on to someone else, someone a little older, a little wiser, someone more like-"

"You?" She cut in and straightened up the slightest little bit. "Is that what you want? The star?"

"I could care less about the star itself but see, the person that gets to put it on the top of the tree gets treated like royalty for the night. Obviously since I generally tend to think that I should've been born royal…well, you can see how this all fits together, can't you little Sydney?"

"Fine. I'll give you the star." She let out a sigh of frustration and took a step back, his hands falling away from her shoulders.

"Good girl." He grinned at her. "Now, help me get these wonderful little gifts to my room, I'm going to need time to sort through them before I have you wrap them up for me, if there's any that need wrapping that is."

She bit back the words that were swimming in her head and gave him a simple nod in response. Sydney didn't trust her voice, she didn't trust her body either, so instead of speaking or moving, she just stood absolutely still in front of him and hoped that he'd leave her alone soon enough.

Peter gave her one last saccharine smile before turning his back to her, gathering up as many of the little trinkets that she had brought with her as he could and then proceeded to prance out of the room, pausing in the doorway to look back at her.

"Be a doll and grab the rest." He instructed and took off into the hallway, leaving her alone in the room once again.

Without putting up a fuss, she did as she was told, gathered up the remaining gifts into her arms, stole one last look at her bag where the frame was safely stashed, and took off after him.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

With constant looks over her shoulder at Peter, who was sitting on the couch not too far away eating cookie after cookie, she knew that she'd never be able to relax, not so long as he had possession of her letter. She wondered if he had dared to read it, hoping that he hadn't. It held too many secrets, too many feelings that she didn't want anyone to know about, but part of her believed that maybe if he had read it, then he wouldn't be so manipulative to her at the present time.

Who was she kidding, this was Peter Hale that she was talking about. It didn't matter what the letter said, either way, he wouldn't pass up an opportunity to nag her, even if he _was_ aware of what she had written to Santa.

When she looked over her shoulder for the umpteenth time and stole another glance at the man devouring the Christmas cookies and treats that she had brought with her, she met his eye and he gave her an encouraging, albeit subtle, nod. Okay, so as long as she did what she was told and didn't stir up any trouble, then maybe she'd believe he wouldn't announce to everyone that she had written a letter to Father Christmas at the age of sixteen.

It wasn't that she believed in him, not at all, but there were things that she wanted, things that she asked for from the man from the North Pole that she knew no one else would be able to give her. If anyone found out what those things were, well that would be upsetting, more so than having Peter hold the whole thing over her head.

"Geez Peter, save some for the rest of us." Laura barked at him and Peter gave her a quick glare before picking up one of the homemade white chocolates with crushed cherry candy cane in them. "You're such a pig."

"He doesn't like sharing." Cora added in and tossed a knowing smile in Sydney's direction. "You remember that much about him, don't you?"

Derek let out a groan at his little sister's remark but Sydney met his eyes and forced a smile at him. It had only been six years since she had spent any large amount of time with the Hales and while she did barely remember Peter, she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't big on sharing. If he ate every single cookie and every single chocolate that she had brought, it certainly wouldn't surprise her.

"Give me one." Derek grumbled and stepped over towards Peter, nabbing a couple of the white chocolates out of the containers on the coffee table. There were decorations strewn about next to the treats as Laura, Cora, Derek and Sydney made their way through them, pining over every ornament before finding the perfect place for it. Talia was sitting in a comfortable looking armchair across the room, a smile on her face as she watched her family adorning the tree with all the intricate and delicate ornaments that they had acquired over the years.

When Derek strode back over to the tree, he offered his sisters a chocolate and then proceeded to offer one to Sydney. Sydney passed it up but Laura and Cora popped them into their mouths and then gave Sydney an approving smile. Derek followed suit and ate his own chocolate while Sydney watched on with a smile of her own, but not before stealing one more glance back at Peter, who gave her a shrug in response.

"I can't believe you guys have a real tree." Sydney remarked and sauntered over to the coffee table, picking up a little glass boot ornament with a small bow of holly on the toe. Peter rolled his eyes at her but she flashed him a smirk and then headed right back to the tree, taking her place between Laura and Derek.

"Mom says she likes the smell." Derek pointed out and sidled up next to Sydney, the two of them searching for an appropriate place to hang the glass boot.

"It smells more like Christmas, don't you agree Sydney?" Talia piped up from across the room and Sydney considered the woman's statement.

When she still had her parents to share Christmas with, they had almost always had a real tree in their home, but ever since she had moved to Colorado and spent Christmases with her grandparents, they had always had fake ones. She couldn't blame her grandma though, the woman was older and more frail, making it harder for her to take care of the tree. Bending over to water it wasn't easy and then there was the cleanup after Christmas was over, cleanup that her grandma hadn't wanted to deal with.

"I love the smell." Sydney answered softly. "My mom used to insist on getting a real tree, she used to tell me that when I was a baby, I crawled right under it and played in the water."

Derek chuckled at her brief story while the two Hale sisters giggled. Yes, this was nice, she was calm, she was entertaining and she felt accepted.

"You're not going to do that now, are you?" Peter spoke out and Sydney deflated at his words. Right, there was that tiny little detail; dealing with Peter was going to take a lot out of her, but she vowed that she would make it, she'd get through Christmas with the Hales if it killed her.

"No, I haven't done that since I was three." She fired back and when Derek's reassuring hand gave her forearm a pat, she felt herself relaxing one more time.

"I find it's easier if you just ignore him." Derek whispered and threw a smile at her. "We call him Uncle Scrooge when we think he can't hear us."

Sydney gave him a soft smile in response, stole one last look at Peter, and proceeded to focus on the task at hand. The garland had been the first thing to be put on the tree and now the four of them were still trucking away at getting the rest of the ornaments on so that everything looked perfect.

Talia stood up from her chair and disappeared out of the room and when Sydney looked to Derek for an explanation, he merely shrugged at her in response. It was a few minutes later, when Talia returned carrying a small stepladder, that Sydney realized what was going on. This was it, this was the moment when they announced that she would get the honour of putting the star on top of the tree.

She could play this a couple of ways, she could bite the bullet before they even offered it to her, bringing Peter into the equation before anyone knew what was really going on. Or she could wait and see if Talia offered her the star before diverting it over to Peter.

"I think we should get the Grinch over there to help us." Sydney announced with gusto, waving her hand in Peter's direction as he stuffed yet another of her chocolates into his mouth.

Peter froze but brought his eyes up to meet hers. He couldn't say anything though, not with his mouth full of chocolate and Sydney couldn't help but smile: she couldn't have timed it any better if she tried.

"What?" Cora locked her eyes on Sydney but Sydney waved a dismissive hand at the youngest Hale.

"I just don't think it's fair that he gets to sit over there, eating all the treats, without doing some of the work." Sydney explained and Peter narrowed his eyes in on her, most likely wondering what the hell she was doing. "Maybe we could get him to put the star on top?"

"We were going to let _you_ do that." Derek countered and she feigned surprise.

"Oh wow, while I appreciate the offer, I don't do well on stepladders. I have a slight fear of heights, plus I'm totally rocking the bottom branches of this tree, don't you guys think?" Sydney questioned and Cora stepped around the tree, taking in the decorations that Sydney had strung up on the bottom. She peeled her eyes off of it, looked up at their guest and gave her an approving nod.

"You are totally rocking the bottom." Cora teased and Sydney found herself genuinely smiling at the girl standing near her. "I agree with Syd, come on Peter, why don't you grab the star while mom sets up the ladder?"

"By the way, I forgot to tell you," Derek broke in and waited for Sydney to look at him, "There's a bunch of snow at the park, the sheriff brought in a bunch of it for the kids to play with."

"Wait, what?" Sydney's eyes widened at the prospect of snow, whether it was real or fake, she didn't care.

"Apparently since his wife's sick, the sheriff brought in a bunch of fake snow to try to make his kid's Christmas just a little bit better. We can go to the park tomorrow, if you want." Derek stated and suddenly all eyes were on Sydney, including Peter's. She met his gaze and when he rolled his eyes in response, she figured that she was safe to answer however she pleased.

"I think that sounds amazing! That's the one thing I really do miss about Colorado is the snow, it just puts that finishing touch on Christmas." She beamed and felt excited for the first time since Peter had stolen her letter. "We can all go, right?"

"Yeah, me, Laura, Cora-"

"And uncle Peter!" Cora tossed out and Sydney looked over at the man in question. He didn't seem upset by the idea, nor was he looking at her like she was supposed to do something, so instead of trying to make an excuse to get Peter out of it, she just let it go. He could handle himself then, that was fine by her.

"Okay, so tomorrow it is." Derek said as a smile spread out over his face. "Snow on Christmas, who knew right?"

Sydney shook her head in amusement and grabbed another ornament off the coffee table. Peter stepped up behind her, wrapped his hand around the star and looked at her, studying her for a few seconds. When Sydney caught him looking, she nabbed one of the gingerbread cookies from the containers and promptly handed it to him, Peter taking it in his free hand and then taking a bite out of it.

Talia made quick work of getting the stepladder set up next to the tree and once it was ready to go, she slapped the top step, which wasn't any more than four feet off the floor. Peter finished munching on his cookie, held the star firmly in his hand and carefully made his way up to the top of the stepladder.

Once he was safely standing, he stretched out with the star in his hand and gently placed it on the very tip of the tree, taking a few seconds to adjust it and make sure that it was going to stay there without falling off. Once he was confident that it was good, he lifted his hands away from it and held them in the air, a small round of applause sounding out from below, from the people on the floor.

When he finally looked down, his eyes landed on Sydney first, who was smiling at him. It wasn't a mischievous smile, it wasn't some all-knowing smirk either, no, she was genuinely smiling at him. He couldn't help himself as he smiled back at her, their eyes staying locked on each other until Cora lunged for the stepladder, her hand smacking the side of Peter's leg.

"You did good Peter." Cora complimented and Peter tore his eyes away from Sydney, instead he looked down at the stepladder and cautiously dismounted it, letting out a small sigh of relief as his feet hit the floor.

"It's not crocked or anything." Laura added.

"Now all that the tree is really missing is presents." Cora remarked and crouched down next to the tree, looking under the bottom of the tree and gauging how much space was there. "Gee, I hope there's enough gifts to cover up the stump."

"There will be." Talia stated, a smile of her own on her face. "We still need to finish decorating it though, and then I'd appreciate some help with the tree skirt."

"Of course." Laura piped up with a smile.

"I can help too." Sydney threw in.

Derek moved closer to his best friend and slipped his arm around her back, drawing her closer to him. She let her eyes fall shut at the gesture and found her mind drifting back to the Christmases she celebrated when she was still in Beacon Hills.

Her parents always read her the same Christmas story on Christmas Eve after her family and the Hales spent the evening together, sometimes with other people and sometimes with just the two families. She could picture her father hanging up their stockings on the mantle by the fireplace, even going as far as to lift her up so that she could help him.

She remembered leaving out milk and cookies for Santa Claus and carrots for his reindeer and in the morning she'd find all her presents as well as remnants from the food she had left. There were way too many good memories of Christmas, way too many things she wanted to remember but found too painful. At least when she spent her holidays in Colorado, things were drastically different, so different that she rarely felt herself thinking of how things used to be.

Being in the Hale house though, with the real tree, the decorations and even the people, was bringing it all back.

"Syd, come on, let's get the rest of these ornaments up." Derek announced, causing Sydney to open her eyes and peer up at him. She forced a smile onto her face and hoped that the sadness would remain unseen to him.

When she stole another glance at Peter, to make sure he wasn't going to say anything, she took note that he was studying her, his eyes widening the slightest little bit as she met his gaze. What was that? Why was he looking at her like _that_?

"Sounds good." Sydney murmured and pushed the look Peter had given her to the back of her mind.

For now, in that moment, she'd focus on the tree with the hopes that everything else would fall into place.


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 3:**_

Snow! There was snow in Beacon Hills, California!

Sydney simply could _not_ believe it!

Okay, so it wasn't exactly the same as the real stuff, the flakes that so gracefully floated down from the sky, but it certainly _felt_ the same, as cold as could be and numbing if exposed to for too long; and it definitely sounded the same as it crunched underneath Sydney's boots. Although it wasn't quite as whimsical, it would have to do.

There was an abundance of people at the park, children younger than her and adults much older than Peter, but everyone seemed to have the same idea, which was to experience the snow as much as possible before it melted away to nothing.

As soon as she set her sights on it, she nabbed Derek by the hand and rushed forward, dragging him along behind her. When she reached a particularly fluffy looking pile, she jumped into the air and fell into it, sending flakes soaring upwards and looking at them as they daintily glided back down. Derek let out a chuckle at her and before she knew it, he was offering her his hands, which Sydney took gladly and let him haul her to her feet.

He smiled at her and quickly brushed off the snow that had stuck to her clothes, apparently he was a little concerned with her getting wet and cold, something that she didn't mind all that much. The Hales had a fireplace at their house, she could easily warm up there, plus it was in the living room, near the tree, which would provide her with a nice view of the Christmas décor.

"This, this is definitely what I miss most about Colorado." Sydney grinned back at him as he finished brushing off the snow.

She lunged forward, Derek just barely catching her, and the two of them spun around in the middle of the winter wonderland together. When they came to a stop, he shook his head in amusement at the look of pure, childlike wonder etched on Sydney's face. He wasn't going to admit it to anyone but the idea of having a park full of snow, thanks to the sheriff, was exciting to him too. It wasn't like he got a lot of snow to enjoy, if he got any at all, so to have such a large amount of it in one place was definitely a sight to behold.

"I think maybe I might have to come visit you next winter, snow makes everything so much more…"

"It makes it more festive!" Sydney squealed and rounded on Derek before hopping up onto his back. He let out a grunt but kept her on him, piggyback style, while he made his way back towards his sisters, who were also playing in the white fluffy snow.

"It's so cold." Cora exclaimed and cupped her hands together before dipping them into a small snow pile. She lifted it up, over her head, and quickly moved her hands to the side, letting the snow cascade downwards onto her head. As it settled in her hair, she let out a giggle and peered up at her older sister, who was smiling back at her.

"I know, I love it!" Sydney laughed and reluctantly dropped her legs down to the ground, climbing off of Derek's back and freeing him from her grasp. He latched his arm around her shoulders and roughly pulled him against his side, laughing along with her.

"It _is_ pretty awesome." Derek remarked and released his hold on her. She turned to look at him but caught sight of Peter instead. Peter, oh yes, how could she forget about him? He was still making her stay with them rough but there wasn't anything he could do to her at that moment that would ruin her mood. No, she loved snow, she loved the winter way too much for someone like Peter to get her down. "Hey Laura, isn't that that spazzy kid you babysit sometimes?"

Sydney tore her eyes away from Peter, who seemed to be in a rather decent mood himself. When she looked in the direction that Derek was pointing, she noticed a bunch of kids in a little bit of a group. They were mostly boys but Sydney could see at least one girl, and when she squinted her eyes, she noticed that they were making snowballs. Huh, well that wasn't a bad idea at all.

Without hesitating for a second, Sydney squatted down and, using her mitten covered hands, formed a rough looking snowball. She glanced behind her and stole a look at Peter, making sure that he wasn't anticipating her surprise attack, before launching the snowball right at him. She barely got him in the shoulder, but it was enough, and at the impact, Peter turned his attention towards her, a glare on his face so intense that Sydney flinched the tiniest little bit.

"Hey, isn't that guy in your class?" Laura's voice sounded out in the park and Sydney flashed Peter a shit-eating grin before looking over towards the woman who was speaking. "That one, isn't that-"

"Camden Lahey." Sydney supplied, barely recognizing the man in question from before she had been uprooted to Colorado. "It most certainly is. If you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go say hi."

Sydney took off in a jog for the bench where Camden Lahey was seated. There was a girl and another guy sitting with him and Sydney tried to picture who they were. She knew them, they were familiar, and when she was a few feet away, it hit her, oh yes, Cole Sloane and Ryan Robertson. She had once had a crush on Cole Sloane and anyone in their right might would've. He was a gorgeous man and if he hadn't been with Ryan Robertson all the time, Sydney might've made a move.

"Oh my god! Is that who I think it is!?"

Sydney's smile widened as Camden spoke to her, even jumping up off the bench and taking her into his arms when she was within reach. Sydney hugged him right back and when the two of them pulled away, she looked up at him, unable to stop grinning at all. Sure she was expecting to run into certain people while she was on holiday in Beacon Hills but this was sooner than she anticipated, not that that was a bad thing though.

"Uh yes! You do remember me!" Sydney beamed up at him and took a quick look around. "You bring your little brother to the park or is this just where all the cool kids hang out nowadays?"

"He's off running around with his friends." Camden waved behind her and she gave him a nod of understanding. "What are you doing here though? I thought you were in Colorado, like, permanently?"

They had been decent friends before everything had happened, but then again, she had been ten when she had left. Lots of ten-year-olds were friends, hell, she could remember days when the entire class would hang out outside of school because those were really the only people she knew. Camden Lahey had always been one of the boys that she was closer to, but he wasn't nearly as good of a friend to her as Derek.

That was expected though. Derek's family and Sydney's family were super close, hell, they were practically built in friends, almost siblings even. That didn't change the fact that Camden was standing in front of her at that very second, giving her the attention that she needed right then.

"I am but my grandparents had to take off for Christmas and thus, here I am, back in Beacon Hills for a few days to celebrate with the Hales." Sydney answered and he gave her a quick once over.

"I should've known, you and Derek were always super close. I take it that means that you two still are?" Camden questioned and Sydney nodded her head.

"It's hard not to be, we practically grew up together, at least until I left the state." Sydney didn't want to go down that painful road, she didn't want to think of the reason why she had to leave her friends, her school, her home and her life, so she tried to keep her answers vague.

He took another few seconds to study her before giving her another smile, "well, it's really good to see you, maybe we can exchange numbers or emails before you head back? If you want, I'd love to keep in contact."

"Yeah, yeah that sounds good, really good." Sydney bowed her head and debated what she wanted to say next. She didn't get much of a chance to say anything though because before she knew what was going on, little children surrounded her and Camden, one of them latched onto Camden's shins while another one slapped the back of Sydney's leg accidentally.

She looked down at the kid who had hit her and the kid looked right back up at her, an adorable little boy with a toque on, the dull blue barn jacket adorning him made him look even smaller than possible. Sydney smiled down at the kid but when she studied the kid's face a little longer, she realized that this was no boy at all, no, this was a little girl.

"What's up Isaac?" Camden asked and ran his hand over the boy's head as he clutched Camden's legs.

"Charlie keeps trying to hurt Theo." The little kid, this time she was sure it was a boy, who was hugging Camden's legs whined. He had called him Isaac, this was Isaac, this was his little brother, of course! "I told her no but she won't listen."

"Charlie eh." Sydney crouched down and came face to face with the little girl in front of her. "What did Theo do to you?"

"Nothing, I just don't like him." Charlie, the little girl, shrugged in response.

"Huh, well, I know a little something about that." Sydney responded and her gaze flitted back over to Peter, who seemed to be watching her. She brushed off his looming attention and focused back on Charlie. "What are you doing to try and hurt him?"

"She keeps trying to stab him with icicles." A third kid appeared behind Sydney and when he wandered around her and stood in front of her, she met his eyes. "Not that I don't agree with her."

"Okay, and who are you?"

"Stiles." The child responded. "My dad's the one that got all this snow for me."

"Well isn't that cool. Why don't you guys have a snowball fight with this Theo kid instead of trying to stab him with icicles? You still get to kind of hurt him but he'll most likely survive?" Sydney suggested and straightened up to her full height. "I can help you if you want, we can be a team."

"We can?" Stiles looked up at her, his eyes wide with wonder. "You're a big kid though."

"So?"

"So…I don't know." Stiles shrugged and broke out into a run. Isaac remained next to Camden for a few seconds longer until Charlie reached out, grabbed his arm and dragged him off running too. Sydney smiled at Camden, who chuckled at her in response and gave her an encouraging wave, implying that she should probably get to it if she was going to help them with their snowball fight.

Sydney lifted her hand up and motioned at Ryan and Cole on the bench, who nodded to acknowledge that they had seen her, then she took off. She ran across the park, following the path that the three kids had taken just seconds earlier, and when she finally managed to locate them, she found herself looking around at a lot more little kids than she had been anticipating.

"Oh geez." She muttered and they all surrounded her, each and every one of them with a crude looking snowball in their hands, offering them to her. "Uh, okay, um, names, I need names."

"I'm Scott!" A little boy with an off-kiltered jaw grinned at her and jerked his hand, but Sydney gave his head a light pat and pointed him in the direction of Derek. Scott pointed to two more little boys next to him. "This is Jackson and Danny."

"Hmm, right. How about you three take Stiles and go after Derek, okay? If he gives you trouble, you just run back here and I'll help you. Got it?" Sydney held Scott's gaze until the boy nodded his understanding, then he and Stiles took off in a mad dash for Derek, Jackson and Danny lagging just behind them. Derek was innocently wandering around the park next to Cora as she pranced and danced in the wonderful winter weather, if Sydney's little troopers were as good as she was hoping, then he wouldn't even know what hit him.

"My name's Theo and this is Aubrey, she's my best friend." Another kid announced, immediately drawing Sydney's attention towards him. She took in the sight of a sweet looking little blonde girl standing next to him and the little girl shied away from Sydney's gaze. "I protect her!"

"And I keep him from getting into too much trouble." The little blonde girl added, finally looking up to meet Sydney's eyes.

"Aw, isn't that cute. Well then, why don't you team up with Isaac _and_ Charlie _and_ me and we can all go after that guy over there with everything we've got?" Sydney suggested and pointed directly at Peter, who was simply wandering around, taking in the sights of everything and everyone. "Instead of going against each other, we go against a common enemy, how's that sound?"

The four kids were hanging on to her every word and Sydney bent over, made her own snowball and let Charlie lead the way. When they were close enough to launch their attack, they did just that, sending snowball after snowball sailing through the air. Four out of five landed on Peter, who instantly turned to face them with a glare on his face, but it didn't matter, the four kids were already prepared and when he made a move to step closer to them, they unleashed another round of snowballs.

Sydney couldn't help but laugh as one of the kid's managed to hit him in the face and when Peter marched towards them, clearly angry beyond belief, she waved her hands at the kids and sent them scattering, each and every one of them continuing with their snowball fight.

Her eyes were locked with Peter's and when he came to a stop in front of her, she plastered the most innocent look onto her face that she could muster. His hand came up and he wiped the remnants from the snowball off his face, then he let out a low growl.

"You think this is funny?" He glowered and she shrugged at him in response. "You don't think I'm not serious about the letter, I _will_ tell everyone about it."

"Not here you won't." Sydney pointed out with a small smirk.

"Oh yeah, what's going to stop me?" Peter retorted and she looked around at all of the kids in the park.

If he didn't understand her implication then she _would_ spell it out for him, but she knew Peter wasn't dumb. If he told everyone at the park about her letter to Santa, then he'd wind up with way too many confused and saddened children once he made them aware that Santa wasn't real. There were far too many believers around for him to say anything in front of them, unless he wanted a mob of angry little kids chasing him out of the park.

"I'm the Christmas Avenger." Sydney teased. "You can try to ruin Christmas for anyone that you want, I won't stop you, but I will point out that there are way too many kids here for you to outrun and you wouldn't make it out of here alive anyways. Maybe you should worry about yourself for right now and forgot all about _my_ letter, at least until we get back to the house."

He sucked in a breath and mulled over what she had said. She had a point, he couldn't deny her that, and while she might've thought she had the upper hand, he could manipulate and mold just as well as she could. If she managed to get the kids to follow her, then what was keeping him from taking that control from her?

Without another word, he nodded his understanding and backed away slowly, but not before another snowball womped him in the side of the neck. He turned in the direction that it had come from and his eyes landed on the little girl that Sydney had encountered first.

"I got him!" Charlie squealed and Sydney gave Peter a rough pat on the shoulder before jogging over to the little rug rat and guiding her further away from him. He shook his head but listened as Sydney complimented her on the throw, the throw that had resulted in the snow currently dripping down the side of his neck.

He considered how badly he really wanted to blow up what he had managed to gain control of. Yes she had certainly made him angry with her little attempt at a snow pelting, but was it worth announcing to his family that she still believed in Santa, that at sixteen, Sydney still held on to the idea that a random fat man hopped in his sleigh and delivered presents to everyone around the world all in one night?

No, no it wasn't, at least not at this point. It was much too early for him to give up the upper hand now, he had to try to make it last until at least Christmas eve, which happened to be the next day. It was no use in giving up now.

The more he thought about the letter and using it to expose Sydney for what she was, an incessant child, the more he wondered what a sixteen-year-old girl even asked the jolly old fat man for? Did she want a doll to play with, perhaps a rocking horse to enjoy, but no, that was the sort of thing that the little girl who had nailed him with the snowball _might_ ask for, although by the sight of her attire, and the company she kept, he was certain that she'd be more into baseball bats and hockey sticks.

So what _did_ Sydney need to write to Santa Clause to say?

He hadn't bothered to read it, it hadn't piqued his interest until this point, but could he blatantly ignore the simple concept of privacy just to see what she wanted for the holiday?

Of course he could, he was Peter Hale after all, and he didn't let anyone get the upper hand. He'd go home once they were all done at the park and he'd read the letter, he'd read it and he'd finally know what he really and truly held over her. Would she be asking for a car? Maybe some books?

But it didn't matter, not now anyways. He wasn't going to let her little snowball ambush go unpunished and if that meant that he'd have to resort to childlike behaviour like the rest of them, well then so be it.

Peter looked around the park and spotted Derek still playing with Cora, the two of them fending off a pair of boys who were thrashing around trying to hit them with snowballs. He brushed off the idea of asking Derek to join him in his endeavor, in fact, it was rather nice to see his niece and nephew with such joy filled expressions.

He locked his eyes on Laura next, who was standing at the bench with the trio of kids Sydney had run off to see earlier. Laura was keeping an eye on her younger siblings while periodically stealing glances at Sydney, who was near the jungle gym with her little quartet of squealing children.

Huh, well, they weren't going to scare him off, no, he'd just need a diversion, he'd need a good diversion, or maybe he wouldn't need much of one at all. They were just kids right? It wasn't like they really knew what was going on.

"Hey look, I think I see Santa!" Peter called out and he watched as, one by one, the children in the park turned towards him and then looked past him. They broke out into a run and headed right for the gate around the park, leaving Sydney all by her lonesome across the way.

She was without protection, she was without any support and before he could think of a reason to stop himself, Peter bent down, scooped up a handful of snow and began shaping it into what he hoped would be his crowning glory.

Sydney was walking closer to him, her attention on the children who were still moving towards the gate. Perfect, that meant she was distracted too, she'd never see it coming, she'd never be able to counter his attack.

When he was about fifteen feet away from her, Peter wound his arm back, mentally counted to three and sent the snowball soaring through the air. He watched it sail across the vibrant blue sky, a feeling of time slowing down taking over, and when it got close enough to Sydney for him to know if it was going to hit her or miss her, he couldn't help but smile.

The snowball impacted her perfectly in the temple and she stumbled backwards from the sheer force of his throw. She didn't fall over though but that wasn't going to stop Peter from finishing her off. He broke out into a run, leaping at her and tackling her into the cold, frozen, snow covered ground.

"Hey!" She screamed and he rolled off of her, only so that he could grab more snow, tossing it at her wherever he could reach.

She scrambled to her hands and knees in the snow, turning her back to him and effectively ending his assault on her. Peter froze but held the snow in his hand, waiting for her to turn around, hoping that this wasn't the end to their time in the park.

She peered over her shoulder at him and when he caught the intense look on her face, he figured he was in for it. Sydney wasn't going to just let him get away with what he had done, she couldn't possibly. He knew her kind, they didn't just let people win, it was the same way he was.

"You butthead!" She shrieked but a funny thing happened. Instead of a glare taking place on her face, he found himself utterly confused at the giant grin toying on her lips. "God, you are _so_ going to pay for that!"

Peter didn't know what to do, he couldn't get his mind around what she was doing. This wasn't what was supposed to happen, she was supposed to be mad, she was supposed to be furious, but instead she was happy?

"What?" He managed to get the word out and she cocked her head to the side. He still couldn't get his body to work and instead he was reduced to watching as she gathered up a bunch of snow in her hand and mushed it into a rough ball-like shape. By the time he registered what she was about to do, it was too late, and all he could do was throw his own handful full of snow back at her in the hopes that she'd completely miss her target.

No such luck.

Instead of distracting her, she ducked out of the way and lunged at him, slamming the snowball into his face, the weapon exploding from the impact and sending melting snow down his back, along his neck and most prominently, all over his face.

He could feel the chill on his skin and when he opened his eyes, she was on her knees in front of him, looking at him with a concerned expression. Had she _just_ realized that he still had her letter in his possession? Was she fearful that she had just screwed up and this was the turning point?

"You get a five second head start and then I'm coming after you with everything I've got." Peter stated and she merely tipped her head to the other side in response, apparently still confused as to what was going on here. "Well, if you want to forfeit your head start, I guess you'll just have to eat snow!"

Sydney let out a squeal as he shoved his hands into the snow and began sending it flying in her direction. She tried to get out of the way of the chilling spray but it was no use, the more she tried to escape, the more snow Peter sent her way.

After a few more seconds, he finally stopped and waited for her to meet his eyes. When she did, she looked at him flatly, still utterly confused about what was happening.

"Why are you being nice to me?" Sydney asked in a hushed whisper.

Peter felt her words hit him like a punch to the gut. He wasn't _nice_ , especially to people who showed up at his house for Christmas, especially to little girls that hung around with his nephew causing him nothing but grief. He wasn't being nice to her, he wasn't even pretending to be nice to her, she was just the perfect target. Which begged the question that was now nagging at his mind: he wasn't being nice to Sydney, was he?

"I'm not." He scoffed and glanced down at the snow on the ground surrounding them. "I _just_ hit you in the head with a snowball, if you think that's considered nice then you've got problems."

She kept her eyes trained on him for a split second longer before making her way to her feet. Before he could argue with her, she grabbed on to his wrists and helped him to his feet too. When he reached out and brushed the snow out of her hair, she shied away from his gaze and simply let him do it.

When he was finished, she brought her attention back up to him, a giant smile on her face.

"I still get a five second head start." She taunted and took off in a mad dash before Peter could object.

With a shake of his head, he started his countdown, giving her a couple of seconds longer to get away.

Chasing her was going to be fun and maybe, for the first time since she had arrived, he wasn't _just_ thinking about himself.


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 ** _Chapter 4:_**

By the time the group of them had headed home from the park, they were all cold, wet and worn out. The snowball fighting had continued well into the afternoon and when the four of the Hales, plus Sydney, had arrived home, Talia had had dinner ready and waiting, which was a welcome surprise for them all.

Since they were all tuckered out from playing in the snow, Talia had sent them all up to their rooms to put on dry clothes before they could eat dinner, after all, that was a sure-fire way to beat the chill that would no doubt be lingering in their bones for hours to come. While they had all been upstairs, Talia had taken the liberty to light the fire place, taking a few minutes to herself to look outside the front window and just look at the darkened view of the outside world.

This Christmas so far was going much more smoothly than she had been anticipating. It wasn't that Sydney was a bad kid, quite the opposite in fact, but she was new to their traditions, foreign to the way that they did things during the holidays yet so far she had been nothing but accepting and understanding. Talia couldn't even begin to imagine how hard for her it must be, going through Christmas after Christmas without a loving parents.

While the girl had her grandma and grandpa, Talia knew it wasn't the same, it wasn't even close. There was nothing in the world that could hold a candle to the presence of a loving set of parents, especially a set like the one Sydney had had not all that long ago. The pain of losing the Vances had been hard for Talia too, Brynn Vance had been one of her closest friends, and then when Sydney had been whisked away to Colorado by her grandparents, it was like losing one of her very own children.

All in all though, Talia was glad to have her back in the Hale house, even if it was only temporarily.

When Derek marched down the stairs, Talia peeled her eyes off of the dark, cold view of outside and looked right at him, smiling because she was, in fact, happy. Derek tilted his head sideways in confusion but smiled back at her and closed the distance between them, letting his mother take him into a warm embrace.

"What are you doing?" Derek questioned in a low voice, fearful that others would hear them talking.

"I'm just reminiscing." Talia answered with a soft sigh. "I rather like having Sydney here with us, she seems quite content to be here too."

"I think it's definitely a change for her, and she gets to be around people her own age, people that she grew up with." Derek remarked and the conversation between them fell silent.

Talia just held on to her son, basking in the feeling of him right there with her. It wasn't until more sets of footfalls sounded out on the steps that she reluctantly let go of him and followed the group of youngsters into the kitchen.

Once dinner was served up, she shooed them all into the living room where the fire was still roaring and the lights on the Christmas tree had been turned on. It was a lovely sight, a festive sight, and Talia settled into her armchair while she watched her family, Sydney included, as they ate and conversed.

By the time the plates were empty and their stomachs full, an argument had broken out between Derek and Peter over who was the better chess player, something that Talia had to laugh at. She had always claimed to be the best but not too many of her children had gotten to experience how truly competitive she could be when it came to the game of logic, not even Peter was aware of her full capability.

"I've totally beaten you before." Derek groaned and rolled his eyes from his place on the floor, his legs stretched out under the coffee table and his back residing against the front of the couch.

"Perhaps but I'm sure that was a case of me _letting_ you win." Peter countered and lifted his arms over his head as he sat sideways on the couch, lounging in the pillows. Sydney turned her head around from her spot beside Derek and looked at him curiously, studying Peter for the few seconds that she could before he caught her, and he _always_ caught her.

But this time he was too focused on Derek and their argument over who could play a better game of chess. When she finally tore her eyes off the two boys, she glanced over to the corner of the room and spotted Laura playing a game of 'Go-Fish' with Cora, who's stack of matching cards was much, much larger than Laura's.

"I don't think so." Derek shook his head. "I think you just blocked that time out because you were so upset at losing to me, of all people."

"I think you're mistaken, there's no way that I would've lost to you, unless, like I mentioned before, I was _letting_ you win." Peter argued and Sydney stifled back a laugh.

This was what she missed about Beacon Hills, this was what she missed in general, having people to share Christmas with, having _family_ to share Christmas with. It wasn't that her grandparents weren't good people but there was just something that was always missing when it was just the three of them. Sure her grandma had made an extravagant turkey dinner for them on Christmas day, and there were parties that they popped in on during Christmas Eve, but this, spending time in one place with the same people, was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of Colorado Christmas life.

"Why don't you have a rematch?" The words were out of Talia's mouth before anyone else could suggest it and since it was Talia who said it first, there wouldn't be much arguing on Peter's part, after all, she was his older sister and she was the one at the top of the food chain.

"A rematch?" Peter looked at his older sister as though she had nine heads. Sydney looked between Peter and Derek and hoped for the chess match. "But even if he _did_ beat me, it was one time out of too many to count."

"Well I've never played against you." Sydney piped up, not bothering to try to filter her words. When she realized the extent of what she had implied, she leaned back against the couch and crossed her arms over her chest, hoping that this wasn't the perfect opportunity for Peter to tell them all that she had a written letter to Santa. Had she screwed up so easily? Had she neglected to consider the power he held over her?

"Are you any good?" Peter fired back at her and she could hear the challenge in his voice. "I doubt your chess skills are at the same calibre as mine."

"Then it should be an easy win for you." Derek pointed out with a smile. "If she's no good then you should be able to beat her without much of a fight at all."

Sydney turned her attention towards Derek and studied his expression, wondering if what he was saying was in order to benefit him or her. Did he want out of a chess game with Peter? If they did play, would Derek ultimately lose and leave Peter to hold the bragging rights for days to come?

"But I'm actually pretty good." Sydney tossed out, hoping that she wasn't pushing her limits too much. She actually enjoyed chess when she was younger, her father had taught her all she needed to know, and more recently, when the weather had turned bad outside, she would hole up in the den with her grandpa and play game after game of chess. She certainly wasn't lying when she claimed that she was 'pretty good'. "And anyways, I never get to play with anyone other than my grandpa."

"Poor Syd." Derek chuckled and looked between his uncle and his best friend. "I can go grab the board, if you two want to have an ultimate showdown."

Sydney scooted forward on the carpet and turned to face Peter, who was already looking right back at her. She threw a small smile onto her face and raised her eyebrows as if to say 'your choice' and when Peter sat up straight on the couch, she knew that she had him; he was going to play and she was going to obliterate him.

Derek hopped to his feet as Peter pushed himself off the couch, stepping around to the other side of the coffee table and lowering himself down to sit on the carpet. Sydney looked across at him and waited for him to threaten her in a low tone, or glare at her, but the only expression present on his face was that of determination.

"We could put a wager on it." Sydney offered up sweetly, not daring to pass up the potential opportunity to catch him off guard.

"What sort of wager?" Peter shot back and made himself comfortable on the opposite side of the table. The two of them stole a look around the room and when they were sure that the rest of the Hale family was distracted, Laura and Cora by their card game and Talia by a book, they looked back at each other.

"If I win, I get my letter _and_ my gifts back." She proposed in a low tone so that even if they were trying to overhear her it would be difficult to do so.

"What's the fun in that?"

"Are you scared you might lose?" Sydney taunted and plastered a cocky smirk on her face. "If you're such an amazing chess player, I think a little wager would make things so much more interesting, don't you?"

Peter considered her offer and took a few seconds to think about what he wanted from her if _he_ won. It wasn't hard to conclude that he wanted to keep the letter, and her gifts, but this was a chance for more and what could he possibly get out of her that he didn't already have because of his possession of his letter.

"Okay, if you win, which you won't, you get back the letter and the gifts you brought _but_ if I win, you have to do my share of the Christmas dinner dishes." Peter countered.

"Oh." She dropped her gaze down to the floor. Of all the mean and nasty things that he could've made her do, _that_ was what he chose. Of course, it wasn't like there was much else he could do to her but maybe if she volunteered to do his dishes that Talia would insist that that was unfair, maybe there was a catch that he hadn't outright told her. "Uh…okay."

"Good." He smirked right back at her and a silence fell over them which wasn't broken until Derek came bounding back into the room with his chess set tucked under his arm.

He dropped to his knees at the side of the coffee table and flipped it open, setting the board between the two and starting to set the pieces up, white in front of Sydney, black in front of Peter. Once all of the pieces were on the appropriate square on the board, Derek flattened his palms on the surface of the table and smiled with excitement.

"Whenever you two are ready." Derek announced and settled in on the floor, watching carefully as Sydney made the first move.

She started off strong, using her knight to travel across the board, leaving the rest of her pieces where they started. Peter was aggressive though, and started out with an attack plan. A good fifteen minutes into the game, he moved in and held check on her king but she avoided the end, going on to take a few more of his pieces.

Another five minutes later, with most of the board empty, Derek couldn't help but let out a groan. It wasn't as exciting as he thought, not at all. Sydney and Peter were practically deadlocked in a battle for who would make a mistake first and before either of them could speak, Derek let out a groan.

"What?" Sydney narrowed her eyes in on her friend.

"You guys are deadlocked. We're going to have to sit here all night if one of you is going to win." Derek remarked and motioned towards the board. There were only their two kings, one of Sydney's knights and a bishop for Peter left. Derek had a point, it wasn't like it was going to be a quick end, not unless one of them gave up the win.

"I have all night." Peter stated slyly and Sydney straightened up across from him. She knew Derek was right but even if they continued to play, it wasn't like it would be easy.

"I thought you told me earlier that you had things to wrap." Sydney threw out at Peter and raised one eyebrow, hoping that he understood what she was doing. She didn't want to spend the night playing a sad game of chess with him but she didn't want to give up either. She was right, he still hadn't gone through all of the gifts that he had stolen from her and he figured that there were at least one or two that he could gift from himself instead.

"I do." Peter nodded slowly. "But I can keep going if you want to."

"Well I don't want to lose." She said. "But if we _both_ agree that neither one of us is a winner, then we can call it a tie game without _any_ consequences."

"What the hell consequences are you talking about?" Derek piped up and let out a growl. "It's just chess."

"Right, you're right, sorry. I just get so serious when it comes to chess." Sydney offered with a shrug but kept her eyes trained on Peter.

"We can call it a tie." He said slowly. "Nobody wins."

Derek rolled his eyes and reached out, grabbing hold of the black queen that had been sitting on the table for quite a while now. He looked down at the figure and set it in the middle of the board, knocking down Sydney's king before moving it again and knocking over Peter's.

"You two are boring." Derek whined. "Let _me_ play Syd now."

Without arguing, Peter rose up from his seat on the floor and moseyed on over to the couch. He dropped down on the cushion nearest Sydney, leaned over so that his mouth was right next to her ear and then looked at Derek, who was too busy setting up the board to be concerned with their hushed conversation.

"You're going to help me _wrap_ , right?" Peter asked in a whisper and she nodded her head yes.

"After everyone's gone to bed." She gave another nod and Peter relaxed back in the couch, lounging against the cushion like he had been doing before this whole chess match malarkey had started. Letting out a contented sigh, Peter let his eyes fall shut and his mind drift to the days ahead of them.

He was still considering reading her letter but it wasn't like he had the opportunity to, not since they had arrived home from the park. He wanted to know what was in it, desperately, but part of him knew that if he read it, things had the potential to change and he didn't want to lose the control he had over her just yet.

When he opened his eyes, he looked to the coffee table and watched as Sydney started off with the same strategy against Derek as she had against him. He fought off the urge to chuckle because he knew that Derek wouldn't think to counter her actions the same way he had. It wasn't even ten moves into the game and already Peter knew his nephew wasn't going to be winning.

But he wasn't going to say a word.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

When she met Peter in the living room after most of the family has retired to their rooms, Sydney took note that he was actually sitting in front of a tube of wrapping paper with a roll of tape and a pair of scissors residing next to him. She closed in on him and gently lowered herself down while also clutching the photograph of her and Derek against her chest. She was hoping to wrap it too and although she figured he'd try to take it from her, she had a plan for that.

If Peter tried to take her picture, she was going to beg, plead and cry if she had too. He wasn't going to take the last thing she had left, not if she could help it.

"Good, you're here, I was getting worried that you weren't going to show up." Peter announced and waved towards the patch of floor next to him where she could sit down. He had a few gifts laid out in front of him, a couple that she had gotten for the Hale family as well as a couple that she hadn't seen until this point. Had he really gotten gifts of his own?

"I like to treat myself to Christmas presents." Peter stated, apparently he had caught her confused look. "Thus I buy what I know I would like and wrap it up, well, I guess you'll be wrapping them for me."

"Right." She gave one firm nod of her head and loosened the hold she had on her picture frame. When Peter laid eyes on the object hugged against her chest, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around the top of it, pulling on it and trying to free it from her grasp.

She fought him for a few seconds but gave in and let out a sigh in the process. He wasn't going to take her picture, she was going to get it back and she was going to wrap it up for Derek and on Christmas morning, he was going to open it and love it. Sydney watched as Peter studied the photograph inside the frame with a fond smile. She held her breath, hoping that he wouldn't jeopardize the one gift she had left, but when he turned it over, her hand shot out and grabbed at it.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked, his tone low and threatening. She didn't relinquish her hold on it though, instead, she gave it a tug, hoping that he'd be surprised and let it go. No such luck though, his grip only tightened.

"Please, just let me keep this one?" She pleaded and tugged on it one more time but Peter yanked it right out of her hands and flipped the picture over, his fingers prying the tabs open so that he could get inside.

"You can have the picture but I like the frame." Peter stated and her eyes widened in shock.

No! No he couldn't be doing this to her, this was all she had left to give, this was the only thing that she had managed to keep from him. She never should've brought it down to wrap but what other choice did she have?

"Please?" She begged and set her hand on top of his, stalling him in the attempt to get the photo out. "Please don't do this."

"Let go of me, before I go running to Derek to show him your letter to Santa Claus." Peter growled at her and for a second neither one of them moved.

They stayed frozen in their positions, their breathing heavy from the tenseness of the situation. Sydney broke first though and she leaned in towards him, making a grab at the picture with her free hand. If this was all she had left, she was going to fight for it, she was going to claw and scratch and bite if she had to but he wasn't going to take it away from her.

"It's mine." She snarled and leaned in towards him, forcing him to rock backwards on his butt as she threw him off balance. "You can't have it!"

"I'll show him, I'll show Derek, just as soon as you let go!" Peter growled back at her but her grip never faltered, it did the opposite. She pushed into him with her shoulder, driving it into his chest and when Peter let out a grunt as she forced the breath out of his lungs, she seized the second of weakness and managed to get a better hold on the picture.

Peter wasn't done fighting though and he certainly wasn't going to let go. Even if it was just a stupid picture frame, he wasn't going to let her win. Sheer principle alone would dictate that he owned her and her little display of rebellion wasn't going to be tolerated.

"Give me the picture." She ground the words out and yanked on the frame but Peter yanked right back.

The two of them were rolling around on the carpet, wrestling for the frame. Sydney forced her shoulder into his chest again but Peter rolled them both sideways, throwing her balance off so that she tumbled to the floor, her arms outstretched as her hands kept hold of the frame. He shifted his arm and the point of his elbow met her bicep, Sydney letting out a grunt from the pain he was causing her, but she didn't let go.

It wasn't until a cracking sound echoed in the living room that either one of them stopped and at the soft noise, both of them froze. Peter let her compose herself slightly and when she was sitting up next to him, he finally let go of the picture and let her look it over.

When she flipped the photograph towards her so that she was looking down at it, she sucked in a breath and continued to stare at the now broken glass inside the frame. The picture had a small scratch from the jagged edge of the shattered coating and without warning, Sydney lifted the frame up and threw it across the room.

Peter stared at her stony expression and watched her bottom lip quivering. He could see the tick in her jaw and even though the picture was lying on the floor a few feet away, he knew that it was the least of his worries.

When she turned her head to the side to face him, he couldn't help but notice the tears welling up in her eyes, something that he had only seen from the girl once and that was when her parents had been killed. To do something to cause Sydney Vance to cry was something big, something awful, and even though Peter knew he should've just let her have the picture, he didn't have it in him to let her win, even if it was something as trivial as a picture frame.

"You." She hissed.

"I warned you." Peter tossed back at her but he could already feel his confidence fading.

"I hate you." She murmured and made a move to get to her feet but Peter's hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

"You're supposed to wrap for me." He pointed out firmly, without wavering one bit.

"Do it yourself." She shot back.

"I'll tell Derek, hell, I'll tell them all, I'll read your letter tomorrow at breakfast to anyone who will listen." Peter was grasping at straws, he was trying to maintain the last bit of control over the situation that he had, but Sydney didn't even flinch.

"Have you even read it yourself yet?" She growled at him and bent over, leaning in towards him, closing the distance between their bodies so that their conversation remained private.

"No, I haven't." He shook his head and raised his hands in surrender. There was a certain look in her eyes that had him feeling a little intimidated but if he still could, he wasn't going to let her know that. She didn't need to have the upper hand.

"Well maybe you should!" She barked, threw her hands into the air in clear frustration and took off in a mad dash for the stairs, leaving Peter to sit in the middle of the living room wondering what exactly had gone wrong with his plan.

He watched her until he couldn't see her anymore and then he reluctantly stood up, closing the distance between him and the broken picture frame. Without thinking too much about it, he bent over and picked it up, cradling the busted gift in his hands.

Letting out a sigh, he trekked back over to the gifts and wrapping paper set out on the floor. He was going to read her letter, just as soon as he finished wrapping, after all, he still wanted gifts to open come Christmas morning and the ones Sydney had picked out were definitely things he wanted.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 ** _For those of you out there reading this, are you enjoying it? Are there things that you like or don't like?_**

 ** _I'd love to know what you guys think of this story!_**

 ** _Thank you to poorxbrokexcollegexkid for her reviews!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 5:**_

It wasn't like Peter had intended to break the frame, in fact, she had been the one to fight him tooth and nail for it. She had been the one that didn't let go after he had blatantly threatened to tell Derek about the letter, but that didn't make him feel any different about what had happened in the living room.

She had looked upset, no, wait, more than upset, pained almost, and while he had been half expecting her to start crying full on in front of him, she hadn't done that, no, she had kept herself relatively composed, aside from the proclamation that 'she hated him' before she had stormed off upstairs, disappearing for the rest of the night into her room. Well he could live with that, lots of people disliked him, he bet that his actual family was starting to get fed up with his attitude, except somehow this wasn't quite the same. This wasn't his family that he was talking about, this was Sydney, the young girl that had befriended Derek as a child, the same young girl that had always been nothing but genuine with his family and ultimately with him.

Sydney had said that she hated him, she _hated_ him, and that wasn't sitting well with Peter. He hadn't done anything to warrant being hated, not in his eyes at least, but that's exactly what she had said before disappearing out of the living room. Peter had initially waited to see if she'd go crying to Derek, or even Talia, but no one came down to scold him and when he eventually wandered upstairs on his own, he hadn't heard her crying in her room. In fact, when he stepped down the hallway to check on her, to make sure that she wasn't tattling mostly, he took note that she was curled up in the bed, seemingly sleeping, but then again, he knew how easy it was to fake being asleep, especially towards someone who didn't seem to care much. But he had waited a few minutes outside of her room, his eyes never leaving her form, and when he was certain that she wasn't going to make a move, he had left her alone.

It wasn't until Peter was back in his room with the broken picture frame in his hands that he let out a nervous breath. She had all the power to get him in trouble, she had the motive to do it, he had wrecked her frame, he had been responsible for what had happened. Still staring down at the busted frame though, he shook his head at the sight. He hadn't wrapped it, what was the point, the jagged edges of the glass would easily tear through the fragile paper and be nothing but a danger to anyone who dared to pick it up. He didn't want to deal with cuts and blood on Christmas morning and he didn't figure anyone else would either. It was the picture itself that haunted him as he sat in the pillows of his bed, the sight of little Sydney and Derek on their bikes together before she had been whisked away to Colorado.

With the image etched into his mind, he pulled open the drawer on his nightstand and dug under the miscellaneous papers that were also stuffed there. Once he had his fingers on the envelope, he freed it from the drawer and set it on his lap, staring down at it and debating what he really wanted to do with it. It was a letter to Santa, he knew what it would contain, he used to write them himself when he was a child. All of her biggest wishes and desires for Christmas were tucked away inside and could he really just go ahead and read it? Something so personal, so private, and it was right within his reach

He had wanted nothing more than to find out what was inside the letter from the very second he had nabbed it from her bag, but he liked to think of himself as slightly gentlemanly, delving into a woman's private letter didn't seem appropriate until he had to expose her. She _had_ technically given him permission to read it but that wasn't what confused him at all. She had been angry when she had said that maybe he _should_ read it and he knew, as well as anyone, that anger tended to make people rash. She was clearly very frustrated and irritated when she had been fighting him for the picture, something Peter was slightly shocked to see.

Taking a few seconds to compose himself, and force the thoughts of the scuffle from earlier to the back of his mind, he lifted his finger up and ran it along the edge of the envelope. Peter sucked in a breath and freed the letter from its paper prison, hoping that it was just as juicy as he had figured it would be. Would she ask for a pony? A doll house? Maybe some books or movies?

He studied the letter itself and noted that it was written in her relatively neat and fancy scrawl, there were no obvious mistakes, which begged the question of whether this was the original copy or if she had roughed out what she wanted to say before scribbling it down on the nicer paper for Santa Claus. Either way, Peter simply looked over the words, not actually reading them, and wondered if this was really something that he wanted to do. This letter was addressed to Santa Claus, not him, but she had said that he should read it, even if her words were coated in anger.

Taking the letter had been a means to have some fun, to have someone who would do anything that he wanted over the Christmas holidays, and while he had managed to get her to do things for him that no one else would've voluntarily done, this wasn't how he had wanted things to go down. She wasn't supposed to put up a fight, she wasn't supposed to get angry, but she had, and all over a picture, a measly little picture that she had planned on giving to Derek.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Peter straightened the letter up in front of his face and held his breath as he started to read.

 _Dear Santa,_

 _I know that I'm old, probably too old to be writing to you, even though I know you're not real but I figured all that out soon after my parents died. Santa Claus, at least the one I believed in and wrote to every year, wasn't the same Santa Claus that was in the stories and the movies, or even the books and songs. See, before my parents passed away, I generally tended to get whatever I wanted for Christmas, more specifically the things that I asked you for, and while I may sound spoiled, it wasn't like I ever asked for all that much to start with._

 _But when I had to move to Colorado to live with my grandparents after I lost my parents, well, to put it simply, things changed. I didn't get everything that I asked for that year, or the year after that, and while I thought maybe you were running out of things to give or getting extremely busy with the new technologies, I knew that there was something more, a bigger picture that I wasn't seeing. Either way, it doesn't matter anymore, I know that this letter isn't going to make it to the actual Santa but somehow I believe that maybe someone might see it, someone might hear me and be able to help._

 _This year, all I want for Christmas is for the pain to go away, even just temporarily. I can't take it anymore, I can't stand the idea of spending a holiday without my parents while trying to pretend I'm happy. I'm not happy, I'm not even close to happy, I'm miserable, completely and devastatingly miserable. Christmas isn't a happy time for me, it's just a cruel reminder that I'm a parentless child and that my only form of family are two grandparents. Now, I love them, don't get me wrong, but it's just not the same as having my real parents with me, the parents who raised me until they died. That's what hurts, that's the pain that I want to stop._

 _I have an opportunity this year though, I'm going back to California for the holidays to spend Christmas with my best friend Derek and his family. I know it's not the same but it's definitely a change, a change that I'm sort of excited for. Maybe this is what I need, maybe this trip is exactly the thing that will make me forget, even if it's only for a split second, that my parents are gone. If I can manage a smile, or a moment of warmth with those that I care about this year, then I'd say it was a success and my faith in you will be restored Santa._

 _I know that you're not real, I know that you don't actually have magic powers but I believe in Christmas and I still believe in the spirit of it. I do, I really do and one day I hope that I can somehow get that feeling back that I used to have, the same feeling that I had when I was a child and there was nothing more exciting than Christmas morning being spent with my parents, the three of us opening up gifts and just being together. See, I used to get told that Christmas is all about family and it is, I know that now, I understand that now, I just wish that I had more family than I do._

 _I took mine for granted, I didn't get what it truly meant and when I finally figured it out, it was too late. I wish so often that I could go back in time, that I could have just another five minutes with my parents, to tell them that I love them, to tell them thank you for being the best parents they could be, but that's not possible and maybe this year, I'll be able to feel that Christmas feeling again._

 _Thank you, for listening to me. Thank you, for all those years before when you gave me everything I asked for and thank you for making my first few Christmases the best ones ever._

 _Regards,_

 _Sydney Vance_

He furrowed his eyebrows at the contents of the letter and blew out a breath. Huh, well, that wasn't what he was expecting at all, that wasn't even close. Part of him was hoping that it was some trivial letter to the man from the North Pole asking for a new bike or a pair of ice skates but this, no this was completely different. This letter tugged at Peter's heart, much to his dismay, and he knew that there was no way he could ever share this particular 'Dear Santa' letter with anyone.

He felt like he was violating her trust by reading it himself and Peter rarely felt bad for violating trust. The poor girl was in pain, too much pain, and while he felt bad about her parents being gone, he suddenly felt worse about what he had done.

This was supposed to be her saving grace, this was supposed to be the one Christmas that she could maybe feel happy again and he had ruined that for her. He had completely destroyed any chance of that happening.

Peter tucked the letter back in the envelope and gently set it on the top of his nightstand. He'd deal with the letter later but for right now, he needed to figure out how to make it up to her, how to make her feel welcome and loved. He still had one more day, the next day, Christmas Eve, to try, but was it already too late?

What could Peter possibly do to make up for what he had already done? The gifts she had brought for his family would be given to the rightful recipients but that didn't fix the frame that he had broken, it didn't fix the break in her heart that he had caused. Letting out a low whistle, he knew what he had to do, yes, he had one more day left, he had time to make things right and if all went according to plan, Sydney's Christmas morning would be okay; maybe not perfect and maybe not what she wanted, but definitely okay.

It was time for Uncle Scrooge to become the Christmas Avenger.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

She had been lying in bed for quite a while before she had heard any sort of noises coming from the main floor. Apparently Peter hadn't felt the slightest bit bad for what had happened, apparently he wasn't going to chase after her and apologize profusely, then again, was that something that she had really been expecting?

Peter Hale was a jerk; a pompous, rotten jerk who cared only about himself, why would the thought of him apologizing to her have even crossed her mind?

When the frame had impacted on the carpet, when the glass had shattered, he hadn't stopped fighting her, he had continued to threaten her. If that wasn't the first indication that he wasn't going to be saying sorry anytime soon, well Sydney didn't know what would've been. She should've known better, she shouldn't have expected anything from Peter, but part of her had been hoping that maybe he wasn't _all_ bad.

Could there be a tiny part of him that actually cared about other people? It was Christmas after all, the perfect time for miracles, but this wasn't just a normal person, no, this was one of the most conniving, manipulative people Sydney had ever met.

Instead of dwelling on the events that had gone down in the living room, she had readied herself for bed before she heard him climb the stairs. When his shadow was cast over her from the doorway, she was already curled up under the covers with the hopes that sleep would come quickly. Maybe things wouldn't look so bad in the morning, maybe she'd wake up with a smile on her face, a skip in her step and the idea in her head that everything was okay.

If Peter was still around her by then, well, she wasn't counting on it.

He had already managed to completely ruin her Christmas, the one Christmas that she was hoping wouldn't be a complete disaster but she had been wrong. There wasn't anything about this particular Christmas that was better than the last and part of her was starting to wonder if tagging along with her grandparents would've been more fun.

But she still had Derek, and the rest of the Hales, they were all nice to her, they were accommodating and made her feel welcome. If she could just manage to avoid Peter until she was on the way back to Colorado, then maybe she could salvage what was left of her holidays. Yes, all she had to do was stay out of Peter's way and make sure to not make him angry.

A little while after his shadow had disappeared and she was left all alone, Sydney cautiously sat up in her bed and looked around quickly. She flipped the lamp on next to the bed and threw her legs to the side with the hopes that maybe Peter hadn't taken the picture and frame before she had a chance to try and steal it back.

Part of her regretted not taking the pieces of the broken frame with her but she had been so angry, so completely furious, that she hadn't been thinking straight, which had resulted in her leaving the pieces of Derek's Christmas gift on the floor in the living room where Peter could do whatever he pleased with them.

When her feet pressed into the soft, plush carpet on the floor, she pushed herself up and stood next to the bed, debating how she wanted to handle her attempt at getting downstairs without accidentally waking anyone up. She wasn't familiar with the creaks and movements of the Hale house, which meant that she was going to have to play it as safe as she could lest she make a wrong move and send a loud groan echoing through the house.

Sucking in a breath, she tiptoed towards the doorway and looked down the hallway both ways before daring to step out of her room. When the coast was clear, she hugged the wall and wrapped her hand around the doorknob, pulling it shut just an inch before it started to whine in protest. As soon as the door made a sound, she released her hold on it immediately, not daring to try to shut it again.

Light from the lamp cascaded into the hallway but it wasn't worth the fight. A little light wasn't going to wake anyone up, at least not like the sounds that the door might've continued to make had she not let go of it immediately. She blew out a relieved breath and stood still, tuning her ears in and listening for any sign of movement from any of the other rooms.

If she got caught at this point, she'd simply lie and pretend that she had to use the bathroom; after all, she was still in the hallway outside of her bedroom door, it was a reasonable excuse for her to be up. The part that made her really anxious was reaching the stairs. She'd have to head down them as carefully and as quietly as she could and that made her nervous.

At least back in Colorado she knew where the loud spots were on her own staircase, she knew to avoid the second step from the bottom if she was sneaking in or out because it creaked something awful. Here though, here was a whole new ballgame and she had no idea if the stairs would cry out at all.

Forcing the anxiety to the back of her mind, she surged forward and reached the top of the stairs without incident; no noise was made, no one had woken up, she had made it. Reaching her hands out, she gripped the bannister with all of her strength and carefully moved one foot down, over the edge of the top of the floor, and when the ball of her foot connected with the step below, she held her breath, hoping this would be a quiet process.

When her one foot was securely on the step, she lifted her other foot up and moved it downwards too, completely bypassing the first step and going right for the second. When not a sound was heard, she pressed forward and painstakingly slowly made her way down each and every step, all the while holding on to the bannister so hard that her knuckles were white.

By the time she had both feet on the main floor, she could feel her heart pounding in her ears. What would she have said if someone had caught her, or worse, what would have happened if Peter had decided to show up and pester her, maybe even threaten her some more? At the thought of Peter ruining things even more for her, she shook her head and tried to keep her focus on the task at hand.

It was simple, she needed to get to the living room and see if he had left the frame there. Maybe he had set it on the coffee table, or the couch, or anywhere really, so long as it was in the living room then it would be okay.

But what if it wasn't there? What if it was gone? Then what was she supposed to do?

It's not like Peter would just hand it over to her, if he had it at all. She definitely wouldn't have put it past him to just throw it all out, picture included. He had no idea what the picture meant to her, he had no respect for the gifts that she had got for everyone, plus the frame itself was broken and people tended to throw broken things away.

With slow, cautious, calculated movements, she pranced into the living room all the while considering what to do about light. It was dark in the house but there was enough of a glow from the moon outside that she could just barely make her way through the house. Once she got to the living room though, she'd need more light than just the glow of the moon.

There was the main light that she could flip on but that might catch someone's attention if they happened to be up to use the bathroom, or whatever else people got up for in the middle of the night. There were a few lamps, but most of those would involve her fiddling with them, which meant she'd have more of a chance of making noise.

When she finally reached the living room though, it hit her, yes, of course, the Christmas tree. It had lights on it, it had enough lights on it that she could look for the frame but not enough to draw attention to herself. Besides, even if someone noticed the tree on, they'd be inclined to think that maybe whoever was the last up had simply left them on in the spirit of Christmas.

She closed in on the tree and crouched down towards the power bar at the side of the tree, which was precisely where the switch for the lights was located. She fidgeted with it and when she managed to hit it, the tree sprung to life, the lights emitted a soft, white glow, which was just enough for her to look around the living room in search of her broken frame.

"Where is it?" She murmured to herself and turned in the direction that she had thrown it before storming off up the stairs.

She kept her eyes trained on the floor looking over every inch that she could see and when she was sure that it wasn't in front of her, she'd step forward, heading further into the living room. Step by step, inch by inch, she scoured the room in search of her broken picture frame, but with each and every step, her hopes of finding it deflated more and more.

It wasn't in the living room, hell, she'd be lucky if it was still in the house at all, aside from being in the garbage of course. But that just served to fuel her anger towards Peter. Why hadn't he just left it where it had landed? Why had he been responsible and picked it up?

Was he going to use it against her, was he going to rub salt in her wounds?

"God dammit." She hissed and let out a soft sigh of frustration.

Without another word, or looking for the frame and picture for another second, Sydney turned her attention back towards the tree and rolled her eyes. The smell of pine was taunting her now, reminding her of her past Christmases when she had been happy and surrounded by the people that truly loved and cared for her.

Without putting it off any longer, she headed right back for the power bar, flipped the lights on the tree off and quickly tiptoed back towards the stairs. She hung back, looked back into the living room and wondered what Peter had done with her picture?

She couldn't possibly look in the garbage at this point in time, no, that would easily cause too much noise, but maybe she could try to catch a glimpse inside of the garbage bin the next morning? Maybe she could sneak into Peter's room while he was distracted and search for the picture, _and_ her letter.

Either way, there was nothing more she could do about the frame and the picture that night so without putting it off any longer, Sydney began making her way up the stairs, her fingers gripping the bannister hard and her mind thinking her body was as light as possible.

It had taken her just as long to mount the stairs as it had for her to head down them and when she was in the hallway at the top of the steps, she let out a sigh of relief before continuing on to her bedroom. Once she was safely inside, she listened for a few more minutes for any signs of anyone else being awake and when she heard nothing but quiet, she relaxed in her bed and let her eyes fall shut.

She had a plan for the next day, she just had to put it into motion.


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 ** _Chapter 6:_**

When she had woken up the next morning, things didn't seem as dire. That didn't mean she wasn't still furious with Peter but at the very least, she could maybe manage to salvage things. The picture itself was wrecked and the frame was beyond repair but she was okay, she wasn't hurt, physically, and she'd try to make the best of things with the time she had left.

This was her chance, this was her opportunity and whether or not Peter was nice to her, or held the letter over her head, wasn't going to change that. Sydney hopped out of her bed and threw on a pair of plaid pajama bottoms, letting her sleep top hang loosely at her hips. By the time she had her hair pulled back, she realized that it was late morning and if she didn't hurry up and head downstairs, the Hale family might wonder what was wrong with her.

Dashing towards the stairs, but slowing down when she reached them, Sydney made her way down to the main floor, a small smile taking over on her face at the sounds of laughter erupting from the kitchen. When she stepped into the room where the smells of breakfast cooking wafted into her nose, she was greeted with four grinning faces.

Cora was standing next to her mother at the counter mixing the batter for pancakes, Derek was manning the stove while the eggs cooked and Laura was right next to him, watching over the popping bacon as it sizzled in the pan. She stepped forward and was greeted with a wave from Talia, who was too busy trying to keep Cora from eating the raw batter to pay Sydney much attention at all. When Derek waved her forward though, she wandered over and stood just behind him, peeking over his shoulder at the nearly cooked scrambled eggs.

"We figured that since you were up later wrapping with Peter that you could use a little longer to sleep, plus I can't imagine that you're not still tired from your trip here." Derek stated and offered her the spatula in his hand. She took it without question and when he stepped to the side, she focused her eyes down onto the eggs.

"Is he still sleeping too?" Sydney asked and tried to keep her anxiety at bay. She was scared that he might still read her letter in front of everyone and since she didn't know where he was at that moment, she was even more on edge. "He was up later than I was."

"He's not here." Talia spoke up and caught Sydney's quick, curious gaze. "He got up early and headed out, he didn't say where he was going."

"Oh." Sydney gave a nod of her head and when Derek's hand came down on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, she let out a soft sigh. "How long have you all been up then?"

She stole a look around the room and took in the sight of everyone still in their pajamas, everyone except Talia who was completely dressed, her hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail and an apron covering her clean, fresh clothes.

"I've been up since about 7:30 but the rest of them have only been up for an hour or so." Talia answered with a soft smile. "Peter was up before I was though."

"Right." Sydney gave another nod of her head. "And you have no idea where he went, at all?"

"No." Talia shook her head.

"Why's it matter?" Derek piped up and ran his palm down her shoulder. "Are you hoping for another chess game or something?"

Sydney didn't dignify his teasing question with a response, instead, she made sure that the scrambled eggs in the pan in front of her weren't burning while the thought of sneaking up to Peter's room to look around later filled her head, after all, he wasn't in the house, which meant she had a prime opportunity to go and look for her picture, after she managed to steal a glance in the garbage of course.

When the eggs were done cooking, she lifted the pan up, set it on the back burner and made sure the element was turned off. She tossed Laura a sideways smile and stepped away from the stove with Derek, the two of them making their way to the cupboard containing the plates.

Side by side and in a comfortable silence, she and Derek set the table, even setting a place for Peter in case he decided to come back in time for breakfast. When the places were all set, Derek motioned for her to take a seat, but when she didn't move, he let out a scoff of amusement.

"You're the guest." He pointed out and Sydney reluctantly sat down in one of the chairs.

"I was planning on doing some baking as well as Christmas dinner preparation later, you're grandmother boasted that you were a good chef when I was speaking with her." Talia explained and Sydney just looked at the older woman. "You don't have to help but I thought you might enjoy it."

She took Talia's offer to heart and thought about what she really wanted to do. What other option did she have, plus being in the kitchen was familiar to her, she didn't mind it at all, and Talia had mentioned baking; Sydney loved baking, if only so that she could steal mouthfuls of raw batter and dough. Derek stared at her, waiting for her to answer, as did Talia, and when Sydney nodded her head yes, a smile broke out on Talia's face.

"I'd like to help out in the kitchen." Sydney added.

"Perfect, maybe you can show Derek how to make cookies the right way then?" Talia teased her son and Derek let out a playful chuckle at the suggestion.

"It's not my fault that they taste better as dough." Derek shot back but the smile on his face never faltered. "Syd will back me up on that."

"Raw cookie dough isn't good for you." Sydney remarked and broke out into a smile too. "Which is probably why it tastes so good."

"Lots of things that taste good aren't actually good for you." Laura added and sauntered over with a platter full of bacon and sausage, something that she had most likely cooked before Sydney had wandered down for breakfast. "Case in point, bacon."

Cora came bustling over with a bowl full of the eggs that Sydney had managed not to burn once Derek handed them off to her. She grinned at Sydney and gave her shoulder a pat before heading right back over to the counter to stand next to her mother, who was scooping cooked pancakes off of the griddle with an oversized spatula.

"I want some of these first!" Cora exclaimed and when Talia handed her a plate containing more than enough pancakes for three people, the younger girl dashed for the table and set the plate right next to hers. Without a word, Cora then proceeded to use her fork to move three of the pancakes onto her own plate before handing the rest over to Derek.

"Syd?" He asked and motioned towards the pancakes in his grasp.

"Sure." She nodded. "But just one for now, there's so much other food that I can't wait to eat too."

Derek moved one of the pancakes from the plate to Sydney's and then moved two onto his own. He then set the serving plate on the table and glanced back at his mother, who gave him a nod to go ahead and eat. As soon as Derek took a bite of his flapjack, Sydney dug right into hers and relaxed in her chair.

Peter was gone, he wasn't in the house, and whether or not he showed up didn't matter to her. He had already had his chance to read her letter to the family while she had been sleeping and since he had left the house without any more threats directed her way, she figured she was safe, for the time being.

That didn't mean he'd give up on it completely. He still had the letter in his possession and until she had it back, then she wasn't going to be able to completely relax. It was her letter, her secret to keep and she was the one who decided if anyone ever got to see it. But would it be so bad? Would it be the worst thing for the Hale family to know that she considered them her saving grace?

Surely they wouldn't think less of her for what she had written in the letter, but that wasn't what she feared, no, she feared pity. She didn't want them to feel sorry for her, she didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her. As soon as someone had pity on her, their entire demeanor changed. She'd no doubt be treated like a breakable china doll and they'd walk on eggshells just to make sure that they didn't inadvertently hurt her feelings or set her off. They might even be more considerate of what they said and Sydney didn't want that, she didn't want them to treat her any differently simply because she missed her parents.

"Hey?" Derek's voice pulled her out of her own head and when she looked at him, she noticed that he had eaten almost all of one of his pancakes while she had only taken a few bites of her hers. "You okay? You seem kind of spaced out?"

She sucked in a breath, forced a smile onto her face and gave him what she was hoping was a reassuring nod, "just a little tired from all the excitement."

"Oh okay." Derek shrugged her off but when she didn't make a move to eat more of her pancake, he looked back at her with a concerned expression on his face. "Seriously, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She tried to sound reassuring but she knew that she just sounded off.

"Is this about being wrangled into helping mom in the kitchen? If you don't want to help, I can sneak you out, we can go build a fort or a snowman at the park if you'd rather do that?"

"No, it's not that." Sydney shook her head and debated telling Derek how she was really feeling. "It's just…I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine." He stated and poked at the edge of her pancake with his fork. "If you don't like the pancake, I'll eat it for you."

"No, the pancake is fine." She forced herself to try and sound 'fine' and when Derek shook his head and went right back to eating his own breakfast, she figured she had him fooled, either that or he wasn't going to push her.

The closer it got to Christmas, the more she felt alone, even if she was surrounded by the warm and loving Hale family. No matter where she was, or who she was with, it would never be the same as before, it would never feel like the happy, loving times she spent Christmas with her parents. Things were different for her and they always would be. Christmas would never feel right to her and how would she even begin to try and explain that to Derek without bringing him down too?

The simple answer was that she wouldn't be able to.

No, she wasn't going to be making anyone else sad, she wasn't going to make them feel sorry for her, she was going to try and keep herself cheerful. Part of her wondered though if Peter had taken her demand to heart the night before. Had he read her letter and if he had, what did he think?

Did he feel sorry for her? Probably not, Peter Hale didn't seem like the type of person who felt sorry for other people, no matter how badly they were hurting. Maybe, out of all the people that the letter could've ended up with, he was the best option. He wouldn't treat her differently because of it, would he?

She shook her head and sucked in a breath, gripping her fork tighter in her hand. Stealing one last look over at Derek, she used her fingers instead and ripped off a chunk of the pancake residing on her plate. Before she had a chance to pop it into her mouth, Derek stopped what he was doing, reached out and grabbed a few pieces of bacon, dropping two onto Sydney's plate and then two onto his own.

"Bacon is much better than pancakes any day." He said softly and she knew that only she was intended to hear him. If this was his idea of trying to cheer her up, then she was going to take it.

"You're not wrong." She let out an amused snort in response and before she knew it, he was laughing at her, and she was laughing right back at him.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

It wasn't by any means as nice of a frame as the one that Sydney had bought for the picture originally but Peter had spent way more time picking it out than he had planned on. He wanted to make things right, he wanted to fix things for Sydney and the picture frame was the starting point. If he could just get the picture inside of it and the whole thing wrapped before she had a chance to ask him too many questions, then that's all that mattered. It was his ticket back onto the nice list and after spending year after year on the self-published naughty list, Peter was a little excited to be doing something not so bad.

By the time he had made it back to the house after heading out to look for a frame, it was early in the afternoon. He had missed breakfast, he knew that Talia had a feast planned for the rest of the family, but he had more important things to do and plus, the bagel from the coffee shop on the way to the mall was enough to tide him over until dinner.

When he wandered into the living room and spotted only Derek and Cora, Peter furrowed his eyebrows and clutched the bag containing the frame tighter in his hands. He didn't need them to see it, he didn't need them asking questions and he certainly didn't want to have to admit to anyone that he was maybe trying to do something sort of nice for their guest. Instead of stopping to greet his niece and nephew, he merely stripped his shoes off his feet and headed for the stairs, pausing only to take a look into the kitchen.

But the sight within had caught his attention. Talia, Laura and Sydney were standing side by side at the counter, Talia just in front of the stove, laughing and having a good time. Talia was wearing her infamous apron while Laura opted for nothing more than a dish towel over her shoulder and Sydney merely worked her way through the kitchen without an apron or a towel at all.

When she turned around, he caught sight of her flour covered shirt and furrowed his eyebrows. Before he had a chance to duck out of sight, her eyes locked on his and instantly her laughter came to a sudden stop. Their eyes stayed connected and Peter didn't move a muscle, wondering what her death glare meant.

Was she still upset about the events of the night before? Did she still think he was going to read her letter to the rest of his family, effectively ruining the last little bits of her holiday for good?

Of course she did, she knew him well enough to believe that he was still a bad person, which was something Peter was hoping to remedy come the next morning, Christmas morning to be exact. He had a plan in his head of what he needed to do and for everything to work out okay, he'd need for everyone to just leave him alone. He had to get up to his room, fish out the picture and secure it in the frame.

Before he had left the house that morning, he had taken a look at the picture one more time and deemed it unfixable, but the frame, well that was something that he could replace and even if it wasn't the same as the one that he had wrecked, it would have to do. Surely she'd realize how much time and effort he had put in to replacing what he had broken and he _had_ broken it.

It was his fault, if he had just let her be, if he had just left the letter alone from the very start, then none of the events of the night before would've happened. He was a Grinch, uncle Scrooge was the perfect nickname, but this year would be different, this year he was going to try.

The girl still glaring at him had lost everything: her family, her home, her life, and she was still carrying on as though nothing was wrong. What had Peter lost? Well no matter what, it certainly didn't even come close to the pain that Sydney was surely feeling and for that, he had to make it up to her, he had to _try_.

"Oh hey Peter!" Laura locked her eyes on him as well and he swallowed the lump that had been forming in his throat ever since Sydney had looked at him. "You're back. Was the mall busy?"

"Yes." He answered, keeping it simple and to one word. He needed to get himself out of there and up to his room where he could take care of the things that he needed to take care of.

"You went to the mall?" Sydney questioned and tilted her head to the side. "On Christmas Eve?"

"I did." Peter gave her a firm nod but nothing more than that. She didn't need to be asking more questions, she didn't need to know what he was planning.

"I see you've come home with something." Talia remarked and motioned to the bag in his grasp. Peter glanced down at his hands, tearing his eyes away from Sydney's to take in the sight of his gift. He had nearly forgotten that it was in his hands, in plain sight, but it didn't matter, it was still inside the bag and unless the girls in the kitchen had x-ray vision, he could surely keep it a secret.

"A gift." Peter stated and lifted it up before bringing his eyes back to Sydney. She rolled her eyes at him but turned away, her back to him instead of the steely glare that he had been starting to grow accustomed to.

"You want to help us bake?" Laura offered and immediately he shook his head no, cleared his throat and tore himself out of the doorway. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Peter took off for the stairs, taking them two at a time.

When he reached the landing, he broke out in a brisk walk and headed right for his room, closing the door behind him and letting out a sigh of relief. This Christmas spirit stuff was harder than he had bargained for and without putting it off any more, Peter freed the frame from the bag and looked it over.

It was a simple black frame but it was the mat inside that had caught his attention. It was a light blue colour adorned with white wispy clouds and when he had laid eyes on it, he knew that it was the perfect one for the picture. It matched the photograph flawlessly and he had to remind himself that this was a gift _from_ Sydney _to_ Derek and not a gift _from_ him _to_ Sydney.

He had deflated in the store at that thought but yet again, he was quick to cheer up. He had ruined things to start with, this would simply fix, or at the very least attempt to fix, what he had been responsible for wrecking.

The knock at his door pulled him back to reality and he let out a grunt before opening the drawer on his nightstand and carefully shoving the frame inside. He hadn't heard anyone come up the stairs, he hadn't been paying attention but it didn't matter, the reality of the situation was that there was someone outside of his door at that very second.

"Come in." Peter called out and took a seat on the edge of his bed as his door opened slowly. When it was about halfway open, Sydney poked her head in and stared at him, her bottom lip in between her teeth in what he could only assume was a nervous habit. "Can I help you?"

"I uh, was just wondering…" She trailed off and looked down at her feet. "Last night, after I went to bed, did you…did you take my picture and the frame?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business." He answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"Okay." She nodded her understanding, apparently nothing had changed between them in her eyes. "Well I just…if you _do_ have the picture, I'd like it back."

"Is that a demand?" Peter narrowed his eyes in on her and she abruptly shook her head no.

"It's just a request." She forced a sad smile onto her face and pushed the door open a little more. When he grunted, she took a step inside his room and looked all around, no doubt trying to locate the letter, or the picture, whichever it was, he wasn't sure. He still had both and now that he was home, now that he was back in his room, she wouldn't be able to get to either without him knowing.

"Well, I'm not sure _what_ happened to the picture." Peter baited her but she didn't argue, she didn't protest. She just stood in his doorway with a sad look on her face and that same pained look in her eyes as he had seen the night before when the picture frame had been shattered. " _If_ I happen to see it, _maybe_ I'll let you know."

"Right." She gave him another nod of her head and glanced back over her shoulder. "I'm going to go back and help make cookies, unless there's something you need?"

"No." Peter countered with a smirk. "You're free to bake cookies so long as you make some for me."

A slight scoff erupted from her throat but he paid little attention to it. He wasn't going to hold the letter over her head but he also wasn't going to let her know that, not yet at least. He had considered giving it back the entire time that he had been away from the house and still he hadn't come to a firm decision.

He no longer needed it, no longer wanted it in his possession, but what _did_ he want to do with it. He could send it to Father Christmas for her, without her permission, he could write her a response of his own or he could simply give it back to her and say nothing more about it. There were so many options and none of them felt right just yet.

"Gingerbread, right?" She questioned after a few seconds of silence between them.

"Are most definitely my favourite." Peter replied.

"Do you prefer gingerbread men or gingerbread women?" Sydney quipped and he could see it in her eyes that she was trying to be civil to him, she wanted him to free her from the hold he had on her and maybe she thought that if she buttered him up enough that he would. She didn't know it yet but she didn't have anything to worry about, Peter was done with his cruel Christmas game.

"I think gingerbread moms and dads with an extra special treat of gingerbread children would be ideal, don't you agree?"

She flinched at the mentioning of moms and dads and Peter knew right then that everything in the letter was true. She was hurting, she was suffering and it only solidified his need to try and fix things. No one deserved to hurt as much as Sydney did and he saw it clearly now, he hadn't been making it any easier for her at all but then again, until the night before, he hadn't known how truly sad she was.

"I think family is the most important thing." Sydney responded and lifted her hand up. She gave the doorknob a pat and then grabbed hold of it, pulling the door shut as she disappeared.

Family, oh yes, family was important and wasn't that what Christmas was all about.

Well if she didn't have a family of her own to spend the holidays with then Peter was going to make sure that she had a wonderful time with his, all he had to do to start with was try to fix what he had already broken, and he wasn't just referring to the frame.

It was just a shame that broken hearts weren't easy to find replacements for.


	7. Chapter 7

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 ** _Chapter 7:_**

While the wrapping of the frame hadn't turned out quite as nicely as he would've liked, it was decent enough to be put under the tree, as well as the small letter that he had written out for Sydney herself. His plan for the letter was to tuck it into the branches of the tree with the hopes that no one would notice it and then when he had a few minutes alone with Sydney, he'd give it to her, then, sometime between Christmas morning and Christmas dinner, he'd give her back the letter that he had stolen from her the day that she had arrived at their house.

It wasn't an ideal plan but he figured if he didn't put it in the tree that night, Christmas Eve, while everyone was sleeping, that he'd just chicken out and never give her the letter that he had taken so much time and thought to write. It was the perfect response to her 'Dear Santa' letter and while he did sort of pretend that he was Santa Claus himself, he knew that Sydney would know right away that it was simply Peter masquerading as the jolly old man.

It didn't matter to him, what he had written was good enough for her no matter who the letter said it was from and suddenly Peter was excited by the thought of making her Christmas just that little bit more enjoyable.

She had lost her parents years ago, she was clearly still haunted by this fact and while there wasn't anything he could do to make things okay, he knew that he could at least try to give her a Christmas that she could look back on and smile. While he was at the mall, he had picked out a gift for her, but he hadn't managed to gain enough courage to purchase it.

He left the small, wooden chess set back in the store for someone else to buy and enjoy but he had made a vow that if Sydney ever spent another Christmas with the Hales again, he'd definitely get her something and something good. She deserved it, she deserved to be happy, and he just hoped that his little letter and the replacement frame for Derek's picture would put a smile on her face.

Presently everyone in the house was tucked away in their beds, perfect, that was exactly what Peter wanted while he stealthily snuck down the stairs with Sydney's gifts to his family in tow. He wanted to place them all under the tree so that she didn't know until the morning, he wanted it to be a surprise, he wanted her to know that the magic of Christmas was still very much present.

Tiptoeing down the stairs with a gift bag full of the little gifts she had brought, all of them wrapped as best as Peter could manage, he sucked in a nervous breath and pressed forward. One by one he descended the stairs, hoping that he wasn't caught; explaining that he was making Christmas right for their guest wasn't something he wanted everyone else to know about. He'd much rather just have his family continue to think he was a bit of a Grinch, but Sydney needed to know that he was trying.

When he made it to the bottom of the stairs, he noticed that the lights to the tree were still on, well, that wasn't unusual, after all it was Christmas Eve and in the spirit of the holiday, the tree would remain lit up for the night in the hopes that 'Santa Claus' would fill little Cora's stocking with all sorts of goodies. Peter brushed the lights on the tree to the back of his mind and surged forward, rounding the corner to the living room and stopping dead in his tracks at the sight.

Just beyond the Christmas tree, in their bay window, sat Sydney, all by herself with a blanket covering her bottom half and nothing but a t-shirt adorning her upper body. Her knees were bent upwards and her forehead was pressed against the cold pane of glass belonging to the window. He could just make out a blurred patch from her hot breath against the cool pane, but what had really caught his attention was how completely still _she_ was.

Remaining exactly where he stood, without moving a muscle, Peter studied her as she sat in the window as still as a statue. He tried to figure out what she was doing and why she was out of her bed at _this_ ungodly hour, but nothing came to mind. For a few minutes, he simply watched her as she sat in the window, her own eyes locked on the scene outside.

Peter didn't want to disturb her, he didn't want to interrupt whatever it was that she was doing, but he still needed to get the gifts under the tree and retreating at this point would seem like a waste of time. He had made it all the way to the living room without being caught, the chances of him doing that again were slim and he didn't want to try, plus she seemed to be off in her own little world, maybe he could just sneak the rest of the way in without bothering her at all.

When he made an attempt to step into the living room though, his grip on the bag of gifts faltered slightly and when he squeezed his hands together to keep them from falling, he scrunched up the end of the envelope that he had planned on putting in the branches of the tree. While it wasn't loud enough to catch anyone's attention from upstairs, it was just enough to draw Sydney out of her reverie.

Her head turned towards him, her eyes widened at his presence and before he could make a move to turn and run, she spoke, "Peter?"

Peter sucked in a breath and stepped into the room further, closing in on her so that she knew that it was, indeed, him. He hadn't meant to bother her, he didn't want to break her focus but it was too late to turn back now.

"Sorry." He whispered and Sydney gave him a quick once over.

"What are you doing?" She asked and lifted her hand up, running her fingers through her loose brown tresses.

"I could ask you the same thing." Peter countered, watching her again as she let out a sigh and turned her attention to the world outside the bay window.

"Thinking." She answered softly. "I couldn't sleep."

"Too excited for Christmas?" He questioned with a slightly teasing tone but when she shook her head no, he furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion.

"I rarely sleep around Christmas." She admitted. "Or my birthday, or any other special occasions where people are supposed to be with their family."

Peter didn't say a word in response, instead, he closed in on the tree and carefully emptied his bag full of gifts, setting them neatly underneath the bottom branches and making sure to mix them in with the gifts already residing there. She had been keeping her eye on him while he was bent over and once he was finished, he clutched the envelope in his hands and debated what he wanted to do with it.

Here was a perfect opportunity for him to just hand it over to her, she was all alone, he didn't have anyone to explain anything too, but at the thought of handing over the letter, he became nervous. The words that he had scrawled were the truest words he had ever written and if he _did_ gain enough courage to give it to her, he didn't know what would happen between them after she had read it.

On one hand, he could hand it to her and leave, retreating back to his bedroom and hoping that she didn't mention it in front of his family, on the other hand, the idea of leaving her alone in the window on Christmas Eve saddened him the tiniest little bit. But would she even want him to stay with her anyways?

It wasn't like he had been nice to her, it was the opposite in fact, he had been anything but. Aside from their shared moment in the park when they were throwing snowballs at each other, he assumed that she hated his guts and if given the choice between being alone and sitting with him that she'd no doubt pick being alone.

"What you got there?" Sydney asked, breaking Peter out of his thoughts. He looked at her with confusion and she rolled her eyes at him in response before motioning towards his hand. The letter was still clutched in his hand and now she had seen it.

"It's…well it's for you actually." He spoke to her, his tone sounding way more confident than he felt. "Here."

Peter walked closer to her and when he was within reach, he extended his hand to her, the letter in his fingers, before debating his next move. In his head, it was probably better if he just handed it over and left her alone.

"This isn't _my_ letter is it?" She pressed and hesitantly took hold of the edge of the envelope.

"No, I still have that. I was going to give it back to you though."

She looked up at him and met his eyes, studying the expression on his face. Whatever his game was, she didn't know, in fact, she had no idea what this all meant to him, but she realized one thing that she _did_ know for sure, she believed him. She believed his words, she believed that he had intended to give her letter back to her and she believed that this was the ending to their little feud.

"I believe you." She gave him a nod of her head and tugged the letter out of his hand. Peter immediately turned away from her, preparing to head right back upstairs, but at the gentle pressure of her palm against his wrist, he found himself frozen to the spot for the second time that night.

He didn't move as her fingers gently gripped his arm and it wasn't until she spoke again that he gained control back over his body.

"Don't go."

There was a pleading tone to her voice, a sadness too that Peter couldn't deny. Maybe he was wrong, maybe she would rather him stick with her than be alone in the bay window of his house. Sucking in a breath, Peter turned back around to face her and he noticed that her eyes were shinier than they had been when he first stepped into the room, was she crying?

"Are you sure?" He asked in a low tone and when she shifted in the bay window to make more room for him, he hesitantly climbed up and sat down behind her. Sydney leaned into him, her back against his chest, and for a few seconds he simply held his hands in the air, unsure of where to put them. When she twisted against him though, and curled up against his chest, he lowered his arms down and let them rest against her shoulders before he turned his awkward hold on her into a warm embrace.

Once she seemed situated in a comfortable position, she made quick work of readjusting the blanket so that it covered his legs, which were on either side of her, so that he didn't get too cold sitting in the window.

She tipped her head back and glanced at him, the letter in her hold, but making no move to open it and read it. Did she already sense how truly sorry he was for what had happened the night before, or was this simply a case of her not wanting to be completely alone, even if that meant sharing the window seat with her best friend's mean uncle Scrooge?

"Did you…want to talk or anything?" Peter forced the words out but kept his voice soft and soothing. She sucked in a breath and lifted the letter up a little bit, looking at the outside of the envelope.

"Did you read my letter?" She countered, her voice barely louder than a whisper but Peter had heard her loud and clear.

"I did." He answered back simply and she nodded her head in understanding.

"And then you decided what? To write me a letter of your own? Is this just going to make fun of me?" She needed to know what she was getting herself into before she read what he had written, he couldn't blame her, he hadn't done anything to prove to her that he was trustworthy, not since she had arrived anyways.

"I wanted to try and make things right." Peter stated vaguely and felt himself relaxing a little bit against the window. She tore her eyes away from him and glanced down at the letter in her hold.

It was easy to get in, he had only sealed the very tip of the flap and once Sydney had ripped it apart, the letter was pulled out and opened in front of her very eyes. She looked at the top of the page and spotted the part where it read 'Dear Sydney' and then she stopped just as quickly as she had started.

"You didn't have to do this." She murmured and looked up at him through her lashes. "I mean, I'm still pretty mad at you for everything but it's hard to hold a grudge when it's Christmas, especially under my circumstances."

"You mean because you don't have your parents?" Peter asked, more for confirmation than anything. He didn't want to be confused, he wanted to understand her, he wanted to know why she was sitting in the bay window all by herself when the rest of the people in the house were sleeping, well, everyone else except for him.

"Yeah." She bowed her head. "Even if you're the biggest asshole ever, I still have Derek, Talia, Laura and Cora, so that's way more people than I usually have and already I've had more fun than last year."

"Really?"

"Yes. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that we get snow in Colorado and it's definitely nice to be in my own house for Christmas, but my grandparents aren't the best people to spend the holidays with, not that I don't love them but it's just…"

"They're not your parents." Peter supplied with a knowing smile. "I can't imagine the pain that you're still dealing with because you lost them-"

"When people say lost it makes me feel like they're just missing." She cut in and he nodded his understanding.

"When they passed away." He changed his wording slightly and she let out a soft sigh. "The pain that you're still dealing with, it must be the worst pain imaginable and if there's something that I could do to lessen that pain then I would do it."

"I don't mind the way you've treated me." She pointed out and he raised an eyebrow in confusion. He had been nothing but mean to her, what the hell wasn't she seeing? "Because you treat me the same way you would even if I had my parents still. To you I'm not some china doll that needs to be handled with care, you know?"

Oh so that was what she meant. She didn't mean because he was mean to her, apparently that didn't really change things, it was the simple fact that he treated her the same way he would've if she wasn't parentless. Well Peter wasn't usually the kind of person to act different just because a person was going through some things, the only reason he was trying to fix Christmas for her was because he had been the only reason why it was so awful for her to start with.

If he hadn't interfered, if he hadn't taken her letter, then things would've been different. She would've had a decent time with his family and they wouldn't have gotten into such a heated argument the night before that had resulted in the destruction of her frame. Peter could fix that stuff but he couldn't fix her broken heart.

"Well this changes things drastically." Peter remarked and she let out a scoff in response. "I guess you don't need to read that letter then, if you don't mind the way I've been treating you."

He made a move to nab the letter from her hand but she moved it out of his reach and grinned up at him. When he realized she wasn't going to give it up that easily, he relaxed against the window and accepted that she was going to be reading what he wrote to her, even if he wasn't entirely sure he wanted her too.

"I'm going to read this now." She announced defiantly and settled into his hold.

The letter came up and she held it in front of her face, reading over the words quickly. Before she made it to the end of the first sentence though, she peered back up at him and took her bottom lip in between her teeth.

"What?" Peter asked, meeting her eyes.

"Can you read it?"

"You want me to read it?"

"Yes."

"To you?"

"Yes." She chuckled at his reluctance but when he lifted his hand up, she offered the letter over to him. Peter took it out of her hand and cleared his throat dramatically, putting off reading it for as long as he could. When she narrowed her eyes in on him, he rolled his in response and started to read the letter out loud, though his voice remained soft and quiet so as not to disturb anyone else in the house.

 _Dear Sydney,_

 _I wish that I could grant you the very thing that you've asked for but the thing is, I'm only really involved in the fabrication of toys and not mending broken hearts. I do hope that wherever you are this Christmas, and wherever you end up, that you're surrounded by people that you love and who, in turn, love you as well._

 _You declared that I, Santa Claus, am not real but that's not true at all. I am very real, I'm alive in the many hearts of the children all around the world, I'm around wherever there is Christmas cheer and whenever you have doubt that I'm not real, like you believe, just close your eyes and let the magic of Christmas surround you and I will always be there._

 _No matter what, you'll never be truly alone on Christmas, you'll always have some sort of family, whether it be in the form of your grandparents, who love you more than you'll ever know, or the form of a friend who has stood by you for years. No matter where you are, or who you're with, there will always be someone who loves you, someone who wants to spend the holidays with you and even if that someone is a young man nicknamed uncle Scrooge, then so be it._

 _You deserve to be happy, even if it's just for a short little while, and I hope that this year you get a chance to smile while you're in California because you_ _ **are**_ _with family there. The pain of losing your parents will never completely go away but each and every year that passes, just remember that you made it, you survived and you'll continue to survive so long as you believe in yourself._

 _I do hope that you get whatever it is that you want this year but even if you don't, never lose faith. Merry Christmas Sydney._

 _Sincerely_

 _Santa Claus._

By the time that Peter had finished reading the letter, she had tears in her eyes that were threatening to erupt onto her cheeks. When his words stopped, he looked down at her and forced a smile onto his face, hoping that maybe this moment would pass without her winding up even angrier with him than she was before. He had violated her trust, he had stolen the letter to start with and here he was reading her a response to a letter that had been meant for the jolly old fat guy that lived up north.

Had she appreciated his well thought out words? Had she understood the time and effort that he had put in to the response that he had just read out loud to her? Would she forgive him for everything that he had done to her since she had set foot in his home?

"Thanks." She choked on the word and when she lifted her hand up to brush away at the stray tears that had managed to escape her eyes, he lowered his arm and hugged her tighter. "You're not a total Grinch."

"If you want me to go get your letter right now, I will." Peter said softly. "You can have it back."

"I just want…" she paused and sucked in a shaky breath, "I just want to sit here with you for a little longer, is that okay?"

He looked down at her, the poor broken girl in his hold, and smiled back at her. Of course it was okay, if sitting in the window with her meant that maybe she'd feel a little better about Christmas, then he'd sit there until his butt was numb and his body ached if he had to.

Without answering her with words, he gingerly shifted his position in order to get a little more comfortable. When she curled up against him and readjusted the blanket to cover more of them, he let out a soft sigh and held on to her, the letter falling to the seat cushion right next to his hip.

"Merry Christmas." Peter whispered and she tipped her head back, her forehead brushing against the side of his face. Before he knew what was happening, she pressed a gentle kiss against his jaw and then settled right back into his hold.

"Thank you."

Not another word was shared between them and Peter merely sat there with her. Seconds passed, then minutes, and when he managed to tear his eyes away from the calm scene outside to look down at her, he couldn't help but smile at the peaceful expression on her face. She had her eyes shut, her breathing was even and he knew that she had fallen asleep.

Whether it was attributed to the fact that it was well into the wee hours of the morning, or because Peter had sat down beside her and offered her what he was hoping was a warm, comforting embrace, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Sydney was sleeping peacefully in his hold.

As carefully and as gingerly as he could, he slipped out from behind her and gathered her in his arms, ignoring the blanket as it slipped off of her and landed on the cushion, covering up the letter. Peter held her in his arms and made his way up the stairs with the idea that she'd be much more comfortable in her bed.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he stole a look back at his room and knew that when morning came, he'd easily hand over her letter to Santa and he'd do it without anyone knowing what had really happened between them. Locking his eyes on her bedroom door, he headed right for it, slipping inside and gently setting her down on top of the bed. Without thinking about what he was doing, he grabbed the blanket at the end of the bed and covered her with it so that she didn't fall victim to the cold, night air.

Peter turned his back to her and took a step towards the door but stopped at the small whimper that he heard from behind him. When he turned to face her, her eyes were open and she was looking up at him with a sleepy expression on his face.

"Stay, please?" She sounded so lost, so sad and Peter gave her one firm nod of her head before he wandered around to the other side of the bed and climbed on top of the covers before settling in next to her.

She turned so that they were face to face and without any sort of hint at what she was going to do, she buried her face into his chest and curled up in his hold, Peter hanging on to her as she got comfortable. He didn't know if he had managed to fix everything but he didn't care, at that very moment, that exact second, she seemed to be at peace.

Wasn't that all he could really ask for?


	8. Chapter 8

_**The Christmas Letter**_

 _Summary:_ _Pre Hale fire: Sixteen-year-olds weren't supposed to believe in Santa Claus, Sydney knew that, but it didn't stop her from asking Father Christmas for just one important thing: to take the pain away, the pain caused by the loss of her parents. After being away from Beacon Hills the last few year, and living with her grandparents in Colorado, she was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend Derek Hale and his family. She should've known it never would've been that easy…_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 8:**_

When Sydney woke up on Christmas morning, Peter was gone.

If it hadn't been for the two envelopes residing on the pillow next to the one she was using, then she might've not even been able to convince herself that the events of the night before had even happened. Peter was a sneaky, manipulative person, and she _knew_ what he had done for her but that didn't mean that he'd take credit for it now that the moment was over.

But seeing the letters there, the one she had written to Santa Claus that she had brought with her, _and_ the one that he had written her as a response, on the pillow next to her head, she knew that he had done exactly what she knew he did. He had come into the living room, found her curled up under a blanket in the bay window watching the scene outside and had ended up reading her a letter that he had written to her.

Sitting up in the bed, Sydney stretched her arms into the air and felt her tired muscles pulling and straining as she did so. Her eyes fell back down to the letters and without hesitating for a second longer, she scooped them up into her hold and clutched them against her chest, promising herself that she wasn't going to let them fall into the wrong hands. She let her eyes fall shut and for a brief second the image of her parents flooded her mind, but all she could do was smile the tiniest little bit.

It was Christmas morning after all, and she had faith that Peter wasn't going to do anything to embarrass her any more. He still had all of her gifts, but she could deal with that, so long as she had her letter back.

Opening her eyes and sucking in a breath, Sydney hopped out of her bed and stepped over to the corner where she had stashed her bag. She tucked the two letters inside and forced them to the bottom, hiding them under her other personal items before zipping the pouch shut. She straightened up, turned back to the bed and fixed it so that it looked somewhat made before stepping out into the hall in her pajamas.

"Just in time, I was coming to get you." Derek grinned at her and waved her forward. She jogged to catch up to him and fell in stride next to him, walking towards the stairs where he paused. She looked sideways at him and when he slipped an arm around her waist, she leaned into him and let him hug her. The embrace was warm and comforting and she felt herself smiling yet again at the feeling of Derek hugging her.

All too quickly though, he pulled away, but he grabbed her hand in the process and tugged her along behind him as he wandered down the stairs.

Upon entering the living room, Sydney looked around the room and took note that Laura and Cora were on the floor in front of the tree while Talia sat in her arm chair not too far away. Peter was situated on the couch and when she caught his gaze, he gave her an encouraging nod. Sydney continued to follow Derek, who took a seat on the floor not too far away from his older sister.

"We set your cookies out on the coffee table." Talia pointed out with a comforting smile and Sydney nodded her head. "I hope that's okay, Christmas morning isn't complete without Christmas cookies."

"Yeah, it's just too bad that Peter's eaten all of the gingerbread." Laura snorted in amusement and Peter rolled his eyes at her in response.

"They are my favourite after all." Peter threw in and leaned back into the cushions on the back of the couch. Sydney looked at him again but this time he held her gaze, staring right back at her as she studied him a little longer.

He seemed in good spirits, there was a calm expression on his face, which was a stark contrast to his usual mischievous glint. She tucked her hands under her bum and sucked in a small breath, not sure how to state that she didn't actually have any gifts for any of the Hales.

Before she could say a word though, Derek picked up one of the presents from under the tree and turned it over in his hands. Sydney watched him closely and when she spotted the label on the corner of the gift, she furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion.

"Syd, you know you didn't have to get me anything." Derek said softly and she whipped her head around to lock her eyes on Peter yet again. He merely smiled at her in response and gave her the tiniest little wave of his hand.

"Or me." Laura added and Sydney's attention was immediately on the older girl. Sydney looked at the relatively neat wrapping of the gift in her hold and opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She was confused, thoroughly confused, and totally not expecting anything like this to happen.

"It was very nice of you to get us gifts." Derek stated and reached out, nabbing two more presents from under the tree, both with labels that read 'from Sydney'. Derek handed one to his mother and one to Cora before Sydney leaned forward and grabbed the one with Peter's name marked on the label.

She ran her fingers along the edge of the wrapping, wrapping that she hadn't done, and turned around. Stretching out towards him, she offered him the gift that she assumed he had wrapped himself. Peter leaned forward to meet her and took the gift out of her hand before offering her yet another envelope. Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and looked up at Peter.

"Merry Christmas." Peter said in a low tone, just quiet enough to not be heard by the others but loud enough that Sydney understood his words loud and clear.

"Same to you." Sydney countered and took the envelope out of his hands. Peter set the gift for him on the empty cushion next to him and she shook her head, trying to shake off the entire encounter.

It was almost weird having Peter treat her like a normal human being. She had grown rather accustomed to his threatening and manipulative ways since she had arrived, but she wasn't about to complain, it was certainly a nice change for him to not constantly be lingering in the background ready to pounce on her when he wanted something from her.

Settling in beside Derek, Sydney simply watched as Laura and Cora divvied up the remaining gifts from under the tree. While her pile wasn't nearly as big, she didn't care, she was just glad to have a family to spend the morning with, especially one as nice and loving as the Hales, which now included Peter. She picked through her gifts slowly, keeping an eye on the rest of the Hales while Cora zipped right through hers.

It was nice, watching the younger girl get excited with each and every gift, even the one that Sydney had got her, which wasn't anything more than the latest bestselling young adult novel. Sydney herself loved to read when she had the chance and she knew that books were one thing that never, ever went out of style, nor did the technology surrounding a book ever become obsolete.

Cora had seemed ecstatic, even if she had quickly moved on to another, larger, more elaborate gift courtesy of her own mother.

When Laura peeled off the paper to the mosaic candle holder that Sydney had gotten for her, she had spent a few minutes looking it over, oohing and ahhing over how pretty the cut pieces of glass, which formed a vine of flowers winding around the glass itself, fit together. It wasn't anything big or expensive but it had been something Sydney had spent a lot of time and thought on.

She had missed Talia opening the gift that Sydney had gotten her, but when she looked over, her hand painted jewelry box was sitting on the small side table next to the chair so that it didn't get ruined in the excitement.

Sydney hadn't been trying to wow them, all she had wanted was for the Hales to see that she did care about them enough to get them something relatively nice. Maybe when she was gone they'd simply put her gifts out of their minds, but she didn't care, for her it was nice to just give them _something_ and in return she received their kindness.

Derek froze next to her and she peered over his shoulder at him. She hadn't been expecting her picture to be in his possession and she certainly hadn't expected it to be back inside a frame that was _almost_ as nice as the one she had originally picked out. Derek dragged his index finger over the glass, his eyes glued to the photograph of the two of them bicycling away from whoever was taking the picture, in this case Sydney's mom, and without warning, he looked up at her, one of his eyebrows raised up in contemplation.

"I remember this." He murmured and Sydney set her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"So do I." She replied in a low tone.

"It was a good day." Derek remarked and turned his attention back down to the picture. "I love it."

"I dug it out from my collection. I didn't know what else to get you." Sydney offered with a slight shrug, her hand falling away from his shoulder. Derek continued to stare down at the picture, even with the damage done to it, it looked relatively decent now that it was back in a frame, behind a pane of glass. He didn't move for a few seconds and when he did, he gently set the frame down with the rest of his presents, then he turned to face her.

Sydney met his eyes and before she could object, he took her into his arms and held on to her tightly, hugging her with everything he had. She relaxed against him and let her eyes fall shut, basking in the comfort that his embrace provided to her on that particular Christmas morning.

Sure it wasn't the same as being with her parents but it was still nice, really nice, and at that very second, there wasn't anything in the world that she wanted more than the hug that Derek was giving her. She set her head against his shoulder and Derek didn't move, he didn't even loosen his hold on her, he simply held her in his arms.

"I'll miss you so much when you leave." He whispered and she let out a soft sigh in response, not entirely sure how to respond.

For a few seconds longer, they held on to each other and if it wasn't for Peter throwing a chocolate covered almond at them, and hitting Sydney in the side of the head, she would've just let him hug her for the rest of the day. It was nice and when they eventually did pull away, she smiled at her best friend.

"Don't throw food." Cora scolded her uncle but Peter just raised his hands in surrender, fearful that the youngest Hale might get the wrong idea and start some sort of Christmas food fight, and he definitely didn't want to waste any _more_ of the treats in front of him.

"Okay." Peter acquiesced and turned his attention back to the small pile of unopened gifts next to him, one of which was the gift that Sydney had picked out for him. He already knew what it was, he had to, he had been the one to take all the gifts and then wrap them up for his family. She wasn't too concerned, she had managed to find him a small wooden box shaped like a book. The spine was covered in a dark, fancy paper with silver accents and on the front was a menacing looking beast that resembled a Lycan.

She hadn't known at the time if he'd actually like it or not, but she had immediately thought of him when she had laid her eyes on it and in her mind it was perfect. She tucked a gift card for the big name bookstore inside just to be safe, but if Peter was disappointed by it, he didn't give anything away.

Sydney lifted the envelope that he had given her up and ripped open the piece of the flap that he had sealed. When she was able to get inside, she gripped whatever was tucked away with her index finger and thumb, lifting it upwards and freeing it from the paper prison.

When she studied the picture that had been in the envelope, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of what was forever locked in the photograph. Her mother was in the picture, sitting in an armchair that looked almost exactly like the one Talia was currently sitting in, except it was at the Vance house. There was another chair next to it with a small table in between and residing in the other chair was Talia. Both women were looking down into their arms where two babies could be seen and it didn't take much for Sydney to realize that she was the baby in her mother's arms while Derek was the baby in Talia's arms.

"Hey where'd you find that?" Derek piped up and set his finger on the edge of the picture in her hold. Sydney looked up at him expecting to meet his eyes but Derek was staring back at Peter, his question directed at his uncle and not at her.

"I have a collection of picture of my own." Peter answered vaguely but Derek narrowed his eyes in on the man on the couch. "It was in one of the packages I have tucked away, I'm pretty sure I'm the one that took the picture."

Sydney reached her hand out and set it on Derek's bicep, drawing his attention back down to the picture in her hold.

"That's you and me." She murmured and he nodded his head yes. "I've never seen this before, it's…it's amazing."

"You and I were cute babies." Derek pointed out with a smirk.

"Even as newborns, you two were irritating as all get out." Peter remarked but when Sydney met his eyes, she smiled at him and he couldn't help but feel a little bit better about the fact that she liked what he had given her, even if it was just a photograph of her as a baby.

"We were conspiring against you since we could walk and talk." Derek retorted sarcastically and Sydney let out a snort of amusement, immediately shying away from Peter and Derek's piercing gazes.

"Sorry." She shook her head and glanced around the room, by this point in time, she held Talia and Laura's attention too and without hesitating for a second, she held the picture up so that Talia could see it, a smile immediately coming across her best friend's mother's face.

"Your mother was so excited that we got to be mothers at the same time, it didn't matter that I was already on my second child when she was only on her first." Talia stated. "You two were bound to be close simply based on the fact that your mother and I were best friends."

"Yeah." Sydney nodded her agreement.

"Do you miss her?" Derek piped up and Sydney looked between Derek and Talia, clearly taken aback by his question. "Mom, do you miss Syd's mom?"

"Every day." Talia answered in a sad tone and Sydney sucked in a breath, fighting off the urge to cry herself.

It was a nice thought, that Talia missed her mom almost as much as she did, and while it was sad to think about, the idea that Sydney wasn't the only one suffering from the death of her parents comforted her the tiniest little bit, especially on Christmas. Derek's hand ran across Sydney's back and he gingerly tugged her against him, letting her curl up against his chest as the two of them stared down at the picture together.

"I just thought you'd like to have that." Peter spoke up with a shrug. Sydney nodded her head again but didn't dare turn to look at him.

She wasn't sure how she'd react to meeting his eyes, especially with everything that he knew about her from the letter. This picture, the photo of her mom, Talia, Derek and her was perfect, it was the best gift she ever could've asked for and it had come from Peter. Peter, who had tried to hold her Santa letter over her head and get her to do whatever he wanted her to, the same Peter that had treated her as more of a nuisance than anything.

Maybe there was a little bit of Christmas magic in the air after all.

"Do you have any other pictures like this one?" Derek asked and Peter moved away from the couch before dropping down to sit next to Derek, who was still hanging on to Sydney.

"I don't know, maybe. If you want, I can bring the rest of my pictures down later and the two of you can look through them." Peter offered and caught the sight of the tears welling up in Sydney's eyes. She blinked a few times and took in deep breaths and when Peter met her eyes again, he felt a little better because she had managed to fight off the tears for the time being.

"I'd like that." Sydney said in a hushed whisper.

"And I'll pay to have copies made if you find any pictures that you might want for yourself Sydney." Talia announced and Peter lifted his hand up, waving off her offer.

"I can cover the cost of copies, I'll even send them to you in Colorado." Peter cut in.

"Thank you, that's really nice." Sydney bowed her head.

"Yeah, that is really nice." Laura spoke up and leveled a glare on her uncle. "What the Christmas bells has gotten in to you Peter?"

Cora giggled at the creative use of foul but not really foul language but it was Sydney's loud bark of laughter that caught everyone by surprise. Suddenly all eyes were on her but it didn't matter, she was already laughing harder than she should've been and she couldn't even think about stopping. It was too good, the whole thing was nice, and she was just glad that she was a part of it, she was glad that she was there to enjoy being around a real family for the first time since her parents had been taken away from her.

It was too amusing to her, way too amusing: the idea of Uncle Scrooge suddenly becoming nice on Christmas, especially to the one person that he had treated as a nuisance, a mere irritation or thorn in his side. She found her mind drifting back to the cartoon that she had watched way too many times come the holidays and in the famous words of the narrator from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 'Well, in Whoville they say - that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day'. Peter had put thought into her gift and while it wasn't much, she was grateful for anything and everything. He had given her back her gifts, he had even wrapped them himself and put them under the tree so that she was just as surprised as the rest of the family come Christmas morning.

That must've been the reason why he had been up so late the night before and why he had found himself in the living room sitting in the bay window with her. She hadn't questioned it at the time, she had merely accepted it for what it was but now, it was all starting to make sense.

He had read her letter and gone out the day before in search of a decent replacement for the frame that he had been responsible for breaking. He had nabbed the picture from the living room the night that it had almost been ruined and he had kept it hidden until he could figure out how to at least try to make her Christmas a little bit better, especially after finding out that she was completely broken by the idea of spending another Christmas without her parents.

He couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she had to go through year after year, day after day. It wasn't something that he would wish on his enemy and Sydney certainly wasn't an enemy, at most she was just an irritation, a minor blip on his nuisance scale and that was only because she was friends with Derek. Aside from this Christmas, it wasn't even as though he had seen her in years, which made it all the more saddening when he had read her letter and realized that he had treated her awfully.

And boy had he made her Christmas awful to start with but now he was hoping that he had made it better, and not just by a little bit. When she had seen the gifts that she had brought for them, she had been surprised, pleasantly so. Peter had a heart after all, he wasn't just some emotionless jerk, he wasn't just some mean old Grinch of a person, no, he wasn't so bad at all.

She laughed for a few more seconds and when she noticed the curious look Derek was shooting in her direction, she shook her head and looked back at Peter, a smile very present on her face and a sparkle in her eye that he hadn't ever seen.

"I'm sorry." Sydney waved them off. "I really am, it's just, this is definitely one of the best Christmases I've had in a long time."

"Right, but he still hasn't answered the question. I mean, in true Peter fashion, he should've gotten you like a gross Christmas cake or something." Laura explained and grinned at the glare that Peter was directing her way.

"I'm not that bad at gift giving." Peter argued and Laura leveled him with another glare. "Okay, so I'm not the greatest gift giver, what does it matter anyways?"

"Uh because it's weird and it's kind of making me uncomfortable. Like what happened to you to make you not so…so Grinchy?" Laura questioned and Peter let out a growl at the accusation.

He wasn't a Grinch, at least he didn't think he was all that bad. He wasn't a big fan of Christmas in general and he hadn't originally been all that thrilled with the idea of boarding one of Derek's little friends, but it hadn't turned out all bad, not for him and not once he had realized that Sydney was hurting a lot more than she was letting on.

Sydney reached out and set her hand on Peter's wrist though, pulling him away from Laura and drawing his attention away from her just long enough to mouth the words 'thank you' to him. He nodded at her, knowing that the picture meant more to her than anyone else would ever know, and with that, he relaxed on the floor, trying to ignore Laura's ribbing.

He looked around the room, caught the smiles on the rest of his family's faces and felt a smile of his own taking up residence on his face.

Someone had once said that Christmas was all about family and while a few days ago Peter hadn't felt the same way, there was something in the air that morning, something different that particular year, that had him feeling good.

It was all about family and maybe, just maybe, he could get used to spending the holidays with the people that loved him, even if he was known as Uncle Scrooge.

In his heart though, and in Sydney's eyes, he'd always be known as the man who could've ruined Christmas and chose not too and after all, what more could he have possibly asked for?

With one last look over at Sydney, Peter joined in and smiled right along with her, and everyone else that he was proud to be with on Christmas morning.


End file.
